El Tigre: The Adventures of Django and Zoey!
by Nitocolus
Summary: Didn't see that coming, did ya! Takes place in their senior year after Zoe finally gives up on Manny and Django finally gives up on Frida. MxF and DxZ Finally finished!
1. Part I: WTF Just Happened?

Manny awoke to find he was tied to a chair adjacent to a chair Frida was tied to. He also found his belt was gone. Slowly he scanned the room, finding his belt hanging from a branch in the ruined pueblo. Frida began to wake up too, drowsy. _We must have been drugged_, Manny decided memories flowing back to him. _Zoe_, he thought.

As if on cue the winged teen landed, a cloud of black smoke flowing around her feet before her jetpack ceased its constant hiss. "Well, if it isn't Black Cuervo, or should I say Zoe?" Zoe wasn't the least bit surprised. "I have to admit, you kept the secret hidden well over the years." Frida said, barely getting past her spite for the gothic teen. Zoe remained speechless, her glare piercing into the two of them from behind her pink purple visor.

Finally she spoke, in a cold and calm tone that was rare for her usual heated and either furious or loving tone. "The reason I am giving you two the privalege of seeing my face," she began, taking off her helmet to review her smooth pale skin, medium and flowing black hair, and her piercing red eyes, "is because it is the last thing you will ever see!" she pulled her wrist up, preparing to fire. Frida had managed to loosen her goggles and swung her head with a powerful thrust towards the projectile beam. The blast bounced off of the red goggles and straight to the branch Manny's belt was on. Manny knocked his chair over and made a mad scramble for the belt, Zoe stepped on the belt just before Manny could reach it and pointed the wrist laser at him. "As I said before, GOOD BY--" she was cut off by the sound of footsteps outside.

A slow, soft sound flowed through the doorway, the windows, and the cracks and gaping holes of the building. It was a bit of a romantical tune. Manny looked up and saw the familiar watery eyes he used to know of Zoe back when she had a crush on him. Frida recognised the guitar strum sounds. "Wait... that sounds like..." she was about to say the name, but as the young skeletal man dressed in his blood-red poncho and black hat, his red eyes glowing out from under the brim of the large hat, Zoe beat her to the punch. "Django!" she shouted cheerifully, running up to hug the skeleton, who's arms were out stretched.

Manny and Frida simply stayed where they were, stuck in a combination of shock and surprise. After the couple finished hugging, the two began talking. "I thought you'd be out of town until the end of the year!" Zoe said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Well, I thought so too, but Nana told me that leaving was my idea, and it was mine to change if I so wanted. This whole time I thought she would be furious if I didn't go!" "Well, I'm glad you decided to come back early!" Zoe said. The two moved in for a kiss that lasted (every second adding on to the astonishment of the captive Frida and Manny) for a surprising twenty seconds. "Let's go back to my layer..." Zoe cooed, rubbing an extended claw around Django's chest, quickly pulling him out of the room. "Aye caramba!" he shouted with a large grin as he was pulled out of the room.

Manny and Frida remained silent for nearly twenty seconds as the shock slowly died down. As they were about to speak, Zoe walked back in. "I almost forget..." she extended her arm downwards. Manny flinched but opened his eyes when he heard Zoe say "There we go!" as she put her helmet on. Django grabbed her around the waist and the two flew off through a hole in the cieling of the pueblo.

"Well..." Frida began, breaking the tension in the near-empty room, "that was the biggest graduation shock I've seen today..." Manny contemplated the joke silently, the recent event slowly hitting him. He chuckled softly for a few seconds before reaching his belt and busting the two of them out of their bonds.


	2. Kindred Spirits

Three Weeks Earlier

---

Zoe Avez walked down the hallways of her school. Normally she'd be depressing all day as a disquise to be goth, but at night she'd commit crimes and be more lively than anyone. Today, she wasn't. She had seen the man she used to love, Manny Rivera, talking to Frida Saurez. It broke her heart everytime. Now it was close to the end of the year, she needed an escape from her emotions, but all she could do was watch Manny and Frida get along together all day, cry about it in the evening, and then try to kill them at night when she was Black Cuervo.

She walked away from them at the end of school instead of her usual following them. As she walked away she accidentally tripped and fell into a bush next to the sidewalk. "Thank God no one saw that." she muttered, blushing at the embarrassing blunder. She then noticed the dim red light that flooded over her. She slowly looked up and almost screamed, though the scream was stifled by a skeletal hand covering her mouth. "Shhh!" Django pleaded with the goth teen who was freaking out. "Please! I don't want those two to find out I'm trailing them!" Django whispered. Zoe immediately stopped her muffled screams and looked up at her captor. A skeleton wearing black pants and boots, a black shirt with a red poncho covering it, and a black large cowboy hat with a skull and crossbones on it. His most dominant trait were the red eyes. "Thank you." he said, uncovering her mouth and quickly moving from the bush.

Zoe blinked and quickly got out to follow. She knew in the daylight her dark costume would be a dead give away to her position, and so close to school it might give away her identity. She simply followed the exact sneaking and lurking path the undead was using. The two stopped and saw Manny lean over and kiss Frida before she giggled and rushed inside her home. Django furiously burnt the fence he was gripping with his hands as Zoe's eye began to water. "That lowlife scum, moving on the one girl who was ever nice to--" Django stopped his rant when he heard a girl crying behind him. He quickly turned and jumped backwards against the fence. "Aye!" he shouted. Zoe wiped her eyes dry. "Stop looking at me!" she sniffed.

Django tried, but suddenly felt he couldn't. Her black hair with purple highlights reached her shoulders. It was straight, perfectly groomed. She was tall, not nearly as tall as him, but tall and well built. And attractive, Django thought. He then noticed her pale skin and red eyes. It all came to one thing: Goth. Django and every other undead thing in the world dispised goths, their way of mimicking their lifestyle and appearance. _Granted, most undead were festive and lively or terrifying, not depressing or cute. Did I just say cute? _Django slapped himself mentally for the thought.

Zoe was still crying when she looked up and saw Django still staring at her. She punched him right in the sternum, nearly cracking it. "I told you to stop looking at me!" she shouted. Django toppled over, accidentally grabbing Zoe to support his fall. She landed on top of him, her face mere inches from his. Django would've blushed if he had skin. Zoe blushed slightly at the awkward position they were in before getting angry and headbutting him with her helmet. She turned away, finishing drying her eyes. Django grabbed his head, rubbing his skull before looking at the goth chick. "What's wrong with you, Crazy?!" he shouted, hoping for an answer.

"It doesn't concern you," Zoe responded, "but if you must know, that's the first time I've seen the man I love be... close to my rival." Django looked Zoe over, recognising her at last. "Zoe, Zoe Avez..." he saw her put her helmet away, "You're the Black Cuervo! Holy cow!" Django said excited. Over the years, Black Cuervo and the other members of the Flock of Fury had become a wll renown villian group. "My Gods, no one even knows who your alter ego is!" Zoe froze up, realizing she had just given away her so well-kept secret.

Django saw the action and quickly tried to calm her down. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." he assured her. "You better not, you sac of bones, or I'll break everyone of them!" she threatened, her depression all but gone. Django saw the rings around her eyes, reminding him of how she wept. He felt bad, and for once, looked away. "Soooo... Frida and Manny..." Django said. Zoe almost cried again. "Yep..." she said through her watering eyes. Django was even more furious with Manny, how he could break a girl's heart like this so well. "Who needs them?" Django asked. Zoe looked up, shocked. "Wha..?" she said in a slight daze. "Well, who needs them? They're well off together, and believe me, I've tried to tear the two apart, and obviously you've tried to. Hell, we've both tried to kill them! It's pointless to keep trying. We should go on and continue enjoying li--" he stopped midsentence at that word.

Zoe sniffed and looked at him, a slight smile forming on her face. "I guess you're right," Zoe said, "I don't need that, that, Manny Rivera! I have! I have... I have..?" she slumped back down again and thought for awhile. Manny was the only boy she showed interest in, well other than the Golden Eagle Twins, but that was a failed attempt to make Manny jealous. Django slumped down next to her and she looked into his glowing red pits for eyes. He looked back at her. She quickly looked away and blushed. Django also looked away, quickly getting over his 'life' dilema.

"Well," Django got up, "I guess I'll get going..." he said, turning around. In the way he turned along with the wind, his poncho moved aside revealing his guitar on his back. "A guitar?!" Zoe almost squealed, "Before you go, can you play me a tune?" Django paused. A perfect chance to really break the ice with the girl that sat on the grass next to him. _I'll have to play it cool_, he told himself. He turned around, creating a jet of fire as he did so. The fire brought skull-shaped torches out of the ground. As the night came, the fire danced light across the ever-enticed face of Zoe and the glowing-eyed Django as he strummed a beautiful, perfectly corded love song.

After it was over, Django said his goodbyes, claiming his Nana would kill him if he did not get home soon (soon being a century for him) and Zoe saying she had to get home soon too, before her mother and grandma questioned her to harsh. Django began to hop the fence, halfway up he turned around. "I had a nice time tonight... Cuervo..." Zoe stiffled a giggle turned and said, "I did too... Django..." The way she had put it, with such emotion, made Django lose his group and he fell over the fence, face-flat. "I'm ok!" he whisper-hollered. Zoe giggled and became the Black Cuervo, flying away leaving only a purple-tinged black plume of smoke where she was standing. "What a woman..." Django whispered to himself, watching her do aerial tricks to create a heart with an arrow through it, before he got up and went home, smitten.

As Zoe finished the heart and began flying away, she thought to herself, _Who needs Manny Rivera? Let Suarez have him, I have someone even better._ She looked down to see two very distant red dots staring up at her. She went home, smitten.


	3. Birds of a Feather

Zoe landed at her family's lair, her grandmother and mother waiting. "Where have you been, young lady?" her mother asked. "Usually you're home after school and we spend the time plotting our new schemes." her grandmother added. Then they noticed the familiar look of love on her face. "Were you with the Rivera boy again?! I swear, if he is playing you again, the boy will wish he was dead!" her mother yelled, her grandmother adding "Yes, and should your mother ever grant him that luxury, I'll make sure it was twice as worse as the torture he went through!"

Zoe shivered at the name. "No, I met someone else... He used to date that..." she swallowed her spite, "...woman... Manny's with now." she sighed softly. Her relatives gasped. "You're dating someone you're rival, who got the first man you were in love with, dated?!" her grandmother asked. "Yeah... Why, is that something you don't approve?" Zoe asked, her tone turning sour. "Don't take that tone with me, and yes, it is something we disapprove!" her mother said. "Well, why?!" Zoe asked, rather upset that everyone she liked her parents had a problem with.

He grandmother sighed. "You remember how we told you that the Aves women and the Rivera men have had love-hate relationships for over several generations?" she asked. "Well, yeah..." Zoe said, not understanding where she was headed with this. "Well, every Rivera has always ended up with a woman that an Aves woman has been a rival with, and these woman are usually close friends with the Riveras." her mother added. "Suarez..." Zoe muttered, but again she swallowed her spite. "Exactly, but you see, the relationships usually fall out after the firstborn son, ending in a divorce." her grandmother continued. "And this has what to do with the new guy I met?" Zoe asked, becoming impatient.

"Well, the Aves women share a similar fate. Haven't you always wondered why all of the famous and known Aves are women, and have kept their last names over the years?" her mother asked. "Oh my God, we're inbred!" Zoe said astonished, her remark purposuly ridiculous. "NO!" her mother said, aggrivated. "We all hook up with the seemingly sweetest men right after we get our hearts ultimately broken, and then they knock us up and leave." her Mother finished, her grandmother nodding next to her. Zoe blinked. So that's why she had never met her father. "History's repeated itself for several generations. If you follow it, you'll be heartbroken and left to fend for a child all on your own. This is the Aves women curse." her grandmother stated.

Zoe looked at her feet. _Could Django really be a jerk?_ she thought to herself. Then it occurred to her. "Has any of those men ever dated the rival of an Aves woman?" Zoe asked hopefully. "Yes, plenty of them." her mother said. Zoe was crushed, her newfound love seemed destroyed before she could ever see him again. "Now suit up, we're going to perform a heist." he grandmother ordered. "I'd... rather call this one out. It's been a long day and I'd like to get some sleep." she said, actually sounding tired. The two older women looked at eachother surprised but said "Ok" and had flown off.

Zoe walked upstairs, depressed, closed the door to her room and listened to sad music to further feed her depression.

---

Django felt he was walking on air, even though he had just passed through the gates of the underworld and was walking to his house. Everyday was Day of the Dead where he lived. He walked over to his friend, the guitar-builder, Francisco. "Buenas noches, Senor Django!" Francisco called as Django sat on a bench next to his workshop. "Beunas noches indeed, Francisco..." Django sighed with a heavy delight on his voice. Francisco had been a distant relative of Sartana who cast his own guitar in a near-indestructible metal to protect it from breaking. While he could still live forever, all his other powers were shot. He was the one indestructible skeleton down there, rebuilding the destroyed guitars of Sartana's relatives (usually hers or Django's) to make sure they did stay dead. Francisco knew love when he saw it and watched with a slight twinge where his heart would be as he saw Django walk in a happy dream-like walk to his house. Francisco smirked.

Django rushed into his house where his father, Son of the Sartana, was preparing dinner. His father had retired from his villainous career (lost his powers and much of his respet) after having his son. He looked up and saw the look of young love upon his face. "Are you renewing a relationship with the human girl?" his father asked, hoping he was not. "No papi, I am interested in a new young woman that I met today... Well not today, we've met up before... But today, it seemed like we really clicked!" Django exclaimed, keeping his excitement down. "Hmmm... Never get into a relationship with a human... It's bad, just look at me!" his father exclaimed. "I had a relationship with your mother, now my mother and everyone down here despises me, while she died a while ago and left to be with another corpse. Happened to your Nana as well! Never trust a human. When they say 'till death do us part' they pretty much hope to part after death. And you! You're a halfling! Thank God that the skeletal side was dominant or you'd be some zombie freak!" his father finished.

Oddly, Django felt slightly unloved, and began to wonder if everyone was nice to him out of pity. Django walked to his room and sat on his bed, thinking. Finally, he used his guitar to spawn some undead band players who played a depressing love song. The sad music further fed his depression.

---

The next day, Django got an idea. He walked out of the house. "Bye Papi, going out to cause pain and depression for mortal souls!" he lied as he ran outside. "That's my son." Django murmured.

Zoe was enjoying the weekend preparing for a large heist. Her relatives had gone out, leaving her alone with chores (fortunately their were a few cleaning bots around the lair) and the plans. She heard a few strums on a quitar, the beat of a slow love song. She gasped and turned around to see Django in the window, playing his guitar. "Buenos dias, senorita..." he said in the best 'cool-romantic guy' accent he could muster. He felt he ruined his entrance when he tripped over the window and fell face-flat on her bedroom floor. He heard her giggle as he lifted his head up and got to his feet. "Well, boney, nice of you to drop in." Zoe said cleaning up her finished plans. "Literally..." Django said as he wiped himself off.

"Soooo..." Django began, "Soooo..?" Zoe asked, interested in what he had to say. "Soooo... Want to... go for a walk, maybe get a bite to eat?" Zoe held down her excitement and pretended to feel completely uninterested while she said only, "Wellllll... I don't know..." she smirked as she saw shock in Django's eye sockets. _Have I made a mistake?_ he thought. Without asking, in a split-second, Zoe grabbed Django's hands and dragged him out of the house with her so quickly that she only had time to say one happy word, "Yes!" Django smiled as he was dragged out of the house.

The walk was so tranquile and peaceful. Django had managed to keep his skeletal form hidden by wearing a leather jacket over his poncho and shirt, hiding his guitar and hat on his back, and wearing a motorcycle helmet to hide his skull. The two walked until they were hungry and Django suggested they eat at the new burger place that opened up. Zoe suggested they rob it as well. Django smiled, remembering how he hadn't had commited any crimes for a few days and he did promise his dad he'd cause misery today.

The burger shop was peaceful until Black Cuervo busted through the cieling and Django of the Dead rose up from under the flooring. Django held his guitar, making sure no one was being a hero and Zoe held her wrist lasers at the people working at the stand. She quickly grabbed the sack they filled with cash (and two double cheeseburgers, one with the works and the other burnt to a crisp with extra beef). The two fled the burger resturant only to run into Manny and Frida. They stopped cold in their tracks. "Oh, jeeze... You guys are really doing this again? And to think I've been having a good last few weeks of school!" Manny said, letting go of Frida's hand to spin the buckle on his belt. "El Tigre!" he shouted before confronting the two villians.

"Now, will you two return the burgers and cash, or do I have to... Wait, why'd you steal burgers?" Django and Zoe exchanged glances before looking at Manny again. "Er, uh..." Zoe said but simply fired her wrist laser at Manny, sending him reeling backwards. She readied her jetpack and grabbed Django by the arm. Frida helped Manny up and all they saw was a speck disappear into the afternoon sky. "Damn, that Black Cuervo can be soooo loco sometimes..." Manny said. "Sometimes?" Frida raised an eyebrow. "Well, I mean, usually she'd try to hit on me or kill me or something!" Manny explained. His blue-haired companion thought about it. "Maybe she's into Django now." she offered. The two stood silent for a moment and began cracking up. "That's funny Frida! Cuervo and Django? That's rich!" Frida was almost crying it was so funny.

---

"So, Frida broke you're heart by being with Manny?" Zoe asked before taking a big bite out of her burger. "Yeah... And Manny toyed with your emotions to sabotage you?" Zoe shot him a look and then answered, "Yeah... But he used to date me in our Junior year..." They sat in silence for a little bit, enjoying their burgers. "I don't understand why I couldn't fight him, I just wanted to leave." Zoe said. Django nodded. "Though we could've gone through him like he was butter." Django offered. Zoe agreed fullheartedly. "Well, actually, I've never seen you fight." Zoe said, putting her helmet on and readying her gear. Django wondered why she was doing that and ducked as she flew towards him, almost taking his head off. "Jeeze! Are you loco, Cuervo?" Django asked. Zoe giggled, "Bet I can beat you to the bank!" she said as she flew off. Django spawned a flaming, skeletal steed and took after her.

Zoe flew over the forest, a trap Django fell for. He was having trouble navigating through the thick trees. "If only you could fly!" Zoe called out, laughing. She stopped laughing when she saw the forest around Django ignite in spectacular green fire as his skeletal horse grew skeletal wings. "You... you have a pegasus?!" Zoe asked as Django soared up next to her. "But of course, cheri." Django said, playing his guitar as they flew. They landed at the bank, a tie. "You fly well, but let's see if you can fight well." Zoe said as she noticed the bank was being robbed by the Golden Eagle Twins, who began to run out the doors with a large load of cash, only to run into the duo. "Gah! Black Cuervo!" Carlito said as he nearly ran into her. "Hello Carlito." Zoe said flatly. Django stared at Carlito, then at Zoe, then Carlito again. "Another ex?" Django asked. "Phht! Hardly!" Zoe flustered. "She used me to make that Rivera kid jealous when we were in our Sophmore year!" Carlito explained. Carla stood beside him and nodded. "It was a cruddy and dishonest, low-life thing to do. Which we admire, but that doesn't relieve much of the pain." Carla added.

"Whatever! Hand over the cash or pay the price!" Django said, pulling out his guitar. "Ha! We're faster than you can shoot, boy!" Carlito said, him and his sister taking flight before Django could fire a mystic bolt. The twins began to grow distant. "Can you still spawn the pegasus?" Zoe asked. Django smiled. He'd never been in aerial combat before.

"We certainly ditched those two losers!" Carla laughed. "Yes, certainly indeed! No way they could... What the he--" Carlito was cut off by a soaring upercut and the twins were then blinded by a cloud of black smoke. As soon as it cleared they gasped at the undead skeleton saddled on a fiery winged horse, a young woman dressed in a black and purple aerial battlesuit and winged jetpack that was hissing out black plumes of smoke and purple flames at his side. "Django of the Dead and Black Cuervo working to together? What, are you two dating?" Carla asked. The twins laughed before Zoe dropkicked Carla down to earth with the heel of her boot. Carla spiralled to earth at breakneck speeds and fell directly into the ocean. Carlito was dazed by the sudden attack to see a spurred boot slice through the wing of his suit as Django roundhouse kicked him (his upper body remaining perfectly still). Carlito stayed in the air as long as he could muster before his wings gave way and he plummeted. Before falling to the ocean, Zoe swooped down and retrieved the loot from the bank heist from Carlito's hand. "Thank you!" she let out sarcastically as she flew back up to the maniacally laughing Django. The two flew off together as the twins got themselves out of the ocean. They could still hear their laughter.

---

"That was an amazing day out!" Zoe said as she jumped off of Django's pegasus and landed on her roof (to conserve the ever-expensive jetpack fuel, she had gotten a lift from Django). "I... hope we can do it again, sometime..." Zoe said, blushing from beneath her helmet. Django bowed before his lady and spawned a black rose, a beautiful thing made from the ash of over a thousand roses. He had made it himself before he came to see Zoe. "You... You made this for me?" Zoe asked, stunned. Django nodded, his glowing eyes glowing brighter at the sign of utter and complete joy in hers. Zoe quickly hugged the young skeleton, finishing off with a kiss. Django was surprised more at the beating in his ribcage than at the kiss itself.

He mounted his pegasus and flew off, bidding her a love-filled farewell as he left. She waved him off until he disappeared, and he returned the sign. Before disappearing, he created a heart with an arrow through it in the sky out of green fire. As the sunset and night fell it grew bright and wonderful. Zoe's lip quivered and she cried tears of joy as she went inside her house. She had just dried her eyes and had a lovestruck look upon her face before it faded before her mother and grandmother. "Hmmmmm..." her mother said, taking note of the rose in her hands. "Hanging out with whoever that boy is, eh?" her grandmother asked. "I don't see what you have wrong with Django! He's a great guy, and his love is genuine!" Zoe argued.

Her mother and grandmother stood there for a second before asking in unison, "Django?! Grandson of the Dead and probable heir to her throne?!" Zoe blinked. "Yeah..." she said, "Did I forget to mention who I was dating?" Her relatives ignored the question, only turned around and whispered plot after plot. They turned aroung, grinning from ear to ear. "We completely and utterly agree with your, er, relationship with the undead boy." her grandmother said. "Oh, well... Thank you for the permission... I guess..." Zoe said, quickly leaving her relatives' sight before they changed their minds.

As soon as she was out of earshot, they returned to plotting. "If this works out, an Avez could inherit the throne! Imagine Sartana's powers in the clutches of an Avez!" Zoe's mother exclaimed quietly. "I know! This is something we cannot let fail! History must not repeat itself in this event!" her grandmother said.

---

Django nearly pranced around his house he was so happy. "Uh... Django? What the hell are you doing?" his father asked. "Oh, sorry papi! I am just so happy!" Django began, his father knowing it was the human girl again, "Zoe is just such an amazing girl, and--" "WHAT?!" his father interrupted. "Oh, that's right, I didn't tell you! I'm in love with Zoe Avez! I think she really likes me too! I had my first kiss with her, and I felt... something weird."

"Stay away from the Avez women! They are manipulative and spiteful! She's only into you to get to the throne! I curse her name!" "Father!" "Don't 'father' me, son! It is for your own good that I forbid you from seeing this, this... Zoe, ever again!" Django gasped. "Papi, you can't do that!" Django argued, but his father simply ignored him. Django treaded to his room and cursed his father's name several times over. He would have to be more careful about seeing Zoe. Much more careful.

Then it hit him: Francisco. Francisco would help him, after all, he was family.


	4. A Crossroads of Sorts

Django rode through the gates of the underworld, which were unlocked by the guitar craftsman, Francisco, riding upon his flame-engulfed horse. His father glared through the window, watching his son ride off to forbid his orders and be with that human. His eyes burned with seething hatred, but he remembered the love he felt for his mother. He would have to let Django figure it out for himself, and who knew? Maybe it would work out.

Django rode, his poncho in the breeze. He was galloping down the street at an amazing speed. Several citizens looked in fear and then awe at the flaming horse, the flames changing color as he rode. Finally Django reached Zoe's house. Zoe pranced outside, and Django strummed on his guitar. The horse disipated and a motorcycle crafted from the bones of enemies and their weapons arose out of the flames where the horse had been. Django was wearing his leather jacket to cover his guitar and poncho, and the motorcycle helmet to cover his skull. Zoe put on a motorcycle helmet (similar to her battlesuit helmet, but slightly different) and hopped onto the motorcycle.

The two rode off as the sun rose, Zoe's mother and grandmother followed them with their eyes until the two had disappeared. "It seems to be working." her mother said. "Well, let's not get too cocky, it could still backfire." her grandmother added, hoping it didn't.

---

The two snuck into a movies all day, some romance (as preferred for a date) and some action and heist movies (preferred for the supervillian in them). They stole popcorn and knocked out people who were disrupting the movies. They were finally caught and thrown out of the movie theater. "Yeah, well, to hell with you too, buddy!" Django shot back as the owner cursed. Zoe threw a rock at the bulletproof windown and it cracked the window. The man came out again, cursing up a storm before the two laughing teens jumped onto Django's motorcycle and rode away.

Driving away, the two felt destruction was good for today. The two quickly changed into their alter egos and rushed into the powerplant. Django's guitar was out in an instant as he fired and knocked out the guards. Zoe flew over him and went through the security systems with ease, jumping through them with amazing agility. She disarmed them and opened the door in time for Django to throw in a stranged, jewel-encrusted skull. "We need to get out of here quickly if that skull does what Nana said it does." Django said, grabbing Zoe by the waist and jumped on his guitar to slide out of the plant. Zoe blushed from the sudden movement.

The plant went up in smoke, none harmed, but all power in Miracle City was out for the rest of the day, allowing a large crime spree (of which Django and Zoe took advantage of and snagged a couple of 'souveneirs'). The two laughed as they flew away from the flaming, burglarized city. They were cut off in their merriment when a chain-linked claw flew around Django and pulled him down to the ground. He landed six feet under the ground. "That always happens..." he muttered slowly.

"El Tigre!" Zoe cried as she flew downwards, surprised at his sudden appearance, but then realised that he was probably being 'good' today. She zommed in for a kick, but missed by an inch and was grabbed by the foot. She stumbled and fell on the ground. "Oof!" she muttered as she came out of her spin. Django had witnessed the whole thing and jumped out of the whole in a spiral of fire and smoke. Several bolts from his magic guitar nearly hit Manny, but Manny turned the tables on them and managed to cause him to flip over and land on top of Zoe. Manny grabbed Django's guitar before he could reach it. "No!" Django cried, missing it by mere inches.

Manny prepared to break, but changed his mind. "Hmmm... You always come back when it's destroyed, so if I just keep it, you don't have any powers..." Manny reasoned, walking away with the guitar. "Hey!" Django yelled, getting off of Zoe to go steal his guitar back. Manny launched his clawed hand and Django ran into it, falling backwards. Manny then wrapped the two together in his claw and spun them around like a top. The two flew into the back of a nearby police van, Zoe's jetpack broken and Django's guitar stolen. As the van pulled away, both Django and Zoe called out of the back, "Vendetta on you, El Tigre! Vendetta!!!!!!" Manny waved them off and returned to normal, putting Django's guitar on his back.

---

Manny returned with Django's guitar to where Frida was waiting for him, right under a tree in front of her house. He pulled it off of his back. "Is that... Django's guitar?!" Frida asked, shocked and amazed. "Yeah! I think I should keep it in a safe place so that way Django can never use it again!" Manny said. After a moment the two shared a smirking glance.

---

"Faster, grandson! The cops are gaining on us!" Puma Loco hollered to Manny and Frida as they slid down a hill on Django's guitar, following Manny's grandfather. They had a treasure trove of gold and jewels from the bank and from captured villians.

Zoe looked through the barred window of the holding cell at jail. "Maybe I was wrong. Perhaps he's being _bad_ today..." Zoe said to herself. Django began to scratch his back. "Man! It feels like my back is being rubbed against pavement at 70 miles per hour!" Django said, his irritation growing as he scratched more. "Try 83." Zoe said, pointing outside. Django looked and gasped. "It's a guitar! Not a, a, a skateboard!" Zoe sat down, calming Django down. Several villians in the hold stared at the two. "Well, what the hell are you all looking at?!" Zoe asked, her Argentine accent tinged with rage. The other villians all looked away.

Django suddenly remembered he didn't need his guitar for immortality or super strength and pried the bars open with his hands. Only he and Zoe could fit through the bars as all the other villians were to bulky. "Adios, muchachos!" Django called back. Zoe and Django laughed as they ran up to meet the three fleeing people. Django jumped onto the back of his guitar, and Zoe jumped onto the front. "Aye! It's Black Cuervo and Django of the Dead! Again..." Frida said, surprised at first but then bored. "Si, senorita! Now I want my guitar back so I might drop my gi-- Errrr... Zo-- Er... Black Cuervo off at her house!" Django said, putting his clawed fists up into a fighting stance. "Awwww.... You called me your gi--! That's so sweet!" Zoe said behind him. Django would've blushed if he had flesh or blood.

"Well, I can't give you the guitar back yet! We're escaping the police!" Manny explained. "Typical Rivera..." Zoe muttered under her breath. "Well, then give me the guitar! I can buy you four some time!" Django said. "Whoa. You'd help out your two archenemies, my Grandpapi, and Black Cuervo, just like that?" Manny asked. Django simply nodded. "I'm not letting you go it all alone!" Zoe shouted at her undead companion. "And don't leave me here with... with... Suarez!" she whisper-hollered. "Zo-- Cuervo, hon-- bab-- Chica? Chica's good. I thought we agreed we'd get over our obsesion with hating those two... Even though I reeeeaaally want too..." Django began to mutter under his breath. "No, I suppose you're right..." Zoe said. Manny, Frida, and a reluctant Zoe got off his guitar. In one swift kick of his boot, he brought the guitar to his hands. He began playing a slow, wiry tune as he walked towards the police.

Zoe was dragged into the nearest alley by Manny and Frida. Zoe turned around the corner to watch as the police cars slowed at the precise moment the music had picked up. Django's eyes glowed like magma in the night, every note of the now fiery song igniting a mystical undead bolt that melted the tires of the cop cars, had undead arms grab the officers to slow them down, or just plain knocked them out. Out of no where, a lightning fast kick silenced the music. "Huh?" Django yelped, looking down to see a hole straight through him and his guitar. He rocked a little bit and fell apart, disintegrated, and sunk into the earth.

"White Pantera!" Manny's father shouted as he had kicked the undead being. Zoe gasped and fainted, falling back into Manny and Frida's arms. Frida was reluctant to keep her held up, but she felt it was the right thing to do. "Uh... She knows that Django will probably be back to normal by tomorrow, right?" Frida asked. Manny shrugged and Zoe began to come too. "Ugh... I had a horrible nightmare that this great guy killed himself to save..." she looked up, "SUAREZ!!!!" she yelled, jumping constantly upwards, off of the walls of the alley until she rached the rooftop. "I SWEAR VENDETTAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" she screamed over the beginning thunderstorm. She rand off into the night. "I guess that's a no..." Manny said.


	5. Double Date!

"I still feel bad about the whole misunderstanding..." Manny moaned as he walked to class with Frida. He didn't know why, but he could of sworn that Zoe Avez was glaring at the two of them more than usual. Just when Frida and Zoe finally ended their fued, Manny left Zoe to return to the girl whom he shared his first kiss with, his first true love, and his best friend. Of course, now Zoe no longer had a best friend, and had her first kiss taken by a man that was also her first true love. Manny would've felt bad about this if he wasn't so racked up on the fury he saw in Black Cuervo, a hatred beyond any other she had shown to him before.

"This week we'll be working on annual science fairs again! I'm sure everyone will be picking the same partners that were in their groups before." there science teacher announced, unenthusiastic, "However! A new transfer student has joined us for the last two weeks of school after his school, a um, Muertos Noon High School, I believe, was shut down! Everyone please introduce yourselves to Django Muerto!" the science teacher said with a little more effort and enthusiasm.

Zoe quit glaring at the two to look up once she heard the name. She gasped. A tanned, teenage lad wearing black cowboy boots with familiar golden spurs walked in. His short and combed black hair further complemented his familiar leather jacket. His eyes, the most familiar part about him, glew red through his pair of sunglasses. "You do know you can't wear sunglasses in class, rig--" the teacher was halted by a doctors note. "Oh, well, ok then. Get in a group. We all have groups of three, so choose one you want, I guess."

Django walked over to the group of three reluctant to be with eachother students. The only three that did not fear him, though two did not trust him. The third was simply astonished. "Hello, my name is Django Muerto..." Django extended his long-fingered hand and gave a very strong and burning shake to Manny and tipped his cowboy hat (decorated with a skull pin and a few feathers) at Frida. He then walked over to Zoe, grabbed her hand and kissed it. "Charmed, mi amore?" Django asked in his 'cool-romantic' accent he had been trying to pull off. Zoe's eyes began to water and she saw people begin to talk.

A smart slap across the face caused Django to fall into his seat. "Back off, creepo!" Zoe said, quiet enough to keep the teacher from caring, though loud enough to get the students to mind their own business. Than she moved in closer to Django and whispered, "Sorry! I was trying to cover up the, er... Surprise of seeing you again. I thought you died! You know, permanently!" Django rubbed his cheek. So that's what pain felt like. He wasn't a fan. "I come back to life once my cousin fixes my guitar... Did I forget to mention that?" Django asked, "I apologize for the upset and fear I must have caused you."

"So, I think for the science project, Zoe and the new guy should--" Manny looked up and stopped midsentence as he saw Zoe and Django locking lips, making out passionately in class. "--and... whoa..." he tried to finish. Half of the class was looking, but as soon as the teacher turned around the two looked like they were working hard designing a project while half of the class was gaping in astonishment. "What the-- Get to work, students! Your grades rest on this project!" the science teacher hollered. The students slowly returned to work.

As soon as the teacher turned around again, Zoe and Django began to make out some more, though this time not many people showed interest in fear of getting in trouble for slacking off. "Uh... Guys, I'd _hate_ to interrupt, but we have to make a project!" Frida chimed in. Zoe stopped and glared. "For the last five years, I've always done every part of the science project and split the credit with you two. Return the favor and do the science project this year." she immediately returned to making out with Django. "Damn! She just met the guy five seconds ago, slapped him, and now they're making out!" Frida whisper-hollered to Manny. "Guy must be a playa..." Manny whispered back. Frida and Manny looked at eachother, their eyes met for a second. They began to make out in a split-second.

The teacher turned around again to see Manny, Zoe, Frida, and Django coming up with a very stupendous and extravagent project sure for first place. "Odd, those two usually don't work that hard..." the science teacher muttered to himself. He turned around and the table returned to its dual make-out session. A little bit a way Diego Chipotle Jr. looked at the two of them and then back to his group of Sergio and a random girl in the school. "How the hell do they do that?!" Sergio and the girl both shrugged in response.

---

"That was awesome!" Manny said after class, holding hands with Frida as Django and Zoe were also holding hands, walking down the hall with them. "I know! I'm pumped with adreneline!" Frida agreed. "Not to mention the fact we came up with an A+ assignment whenever the teacher turned around!" Django added. "Yeah, adrenline must help us think faster!" Zoe reasoned. The four laughed as they were walking down the hall and away from school. When they were a good hundred meters from school they realised that the group of them were acting like close friends and not the usual spiteful enemies.

Manny decided since they were out of earshot (and to try to make it up to Zoe) he'd expose the secret he knew of the new student. "Django Muerto!" Manny turned suddenly, "I know you are Django of the Dead!" Django gasped. "How'd you know?!" he asked. "Dude, your name _means_ Django Dead... It was kind of obvious." Frida said. Django turned towards Zoe, who nodded in agreement. "Oh... Well then El Tigre!" Django pulled out his guitar, "What are you going to do about it?!" Manny stood absolutely calm, smiling. Django held his pose for twelve seconds. "...Tigre?" he asked finally.

"Oh, I'm not going to get in between you and your, er... Girlfriend. She needed a new obsession." Manny said. "Ignoring that." Zoe said flatly. Manny moved in close to Django. "However, I've hurt the Black Cuervo's feeling before, and let me tell you; she'll tear you from limb to limb if she finds out you're cheating on her." Manny whispered. "The Black Cuervo and I aren't dating!" Django said. Zoe turned around you're not?" her eyes began to tear. "Uh... No, Zoey... I'm dating you! Black Cuervo and I are crime partners..." Django said throwing in winks. "Oh... Oh yes! Crime partners! Because if I thought you were with that chick, I'd kill you myself, ahahaha..."

"Yeah, plus that Cuervo girl is looooo-coooooooo!" Frida said. "Don't push your luck, Suarez..." Zoe muttered. "What?" "Nothing!" Manny thought for a moment. "Well, we've shown we can at least act like friends today... I say we go out for a night on the town tonight!" Manny said. "Robbing banks?" Zoe suggested. "Making mortals suffer?" Django asked. "Churros?!" Frida squealed. "All wonderful (and weird) suggestions, but no! We're going..."

---

"...To dance the night away!" Manny finished as they walked into a dimly-lit room where classical Spanish, Argentine Tango, and new remixed songs played. "You had us all get dressed in our nicest clothing and then took us here, and waited until we got here to finish that sentence?" Zoe asked. "Yeah!" Zoe stared at him for a second before turning to Django. "They're playing La Cumparsita! I love that song! Let's go!" she dragged Django away with her.

Zoe was wearing a black dress with purple stockings and black high heels. In her hair she had the flower Django had crafted from ash and soot and held together with 'untold thousands of souls'. Her hair remained in its usual style. Frida wore a red drees and red flower. Manny wore a black shirt and black pants, brown boots and a black sombrero (that weird one with the little red poof-balls hanging from it). Django wore his usually get up, but the holes were all sewn up and he wasn't wearing the poncho. He had sewn on more red and gold trim onto his clothing to 'liven up' his appearance.

The two couples soon made the dance floor ablaze with the most advanced tango moves ever seen in Miracle City. Couples surrounding stopped dancing and watched with awe and amazement as Django and Manny twirled Zoe and Frida, switched the two girls, and twirled them back. Zoe, who was used to spins and other aierial tricks shugged off the dance moves almost immediately. Frida was dizzied and disoriented but kept dancing. Finally, as Manny and Django began to slow down, Zoe and Frida locked eyes for a second. The next thing Manny or Django knew, the girls were leading instead. "Wai... Wha..?" Manny asked, confused on how the tables were turned. Django noticed too, smiled, and tried to keep up with Zoe.

After several songs, the girls tired out at a draw, Django and Manny worn out. "Huuuuuhhh..." Zoe weezed, "You can dance the Tango rather well... Suarez.... Whoooooo!" "You can dance a pretty mean Salsa as well.... Avez..." Frida panted. Django lay on the floor, sprawled out. "The floor is so cool.... Who knew the floor was so cool?" Django asked delerious. Manny was sprawled out next to him, gasping for air. "That's right... He doesn't know his human form needs water... He must be delerious from heat exhaustion and thirst right now..."

At dinner, Django was perfectly alright (thank goodness there were free refills on drinks!) "Humans are weird... Corpses try to warm up and humans cool themselves off..." Django said, taking another swig of cola. The bill came and both Manny and Django reached for it. "Uh, Manny, you took us dancing. I am obliged to pay for dinner." Django said. "Well, Django, I'm trying to be a good host for our two new friends..." Manny said. The two glared at eachother and began to growl as they tugged on the bill. "Wow... Is this what we're like?" Frida asked. "No, we're usually trying to eachother suffer, they're more, what's the word? Competitive!" Zoe said. The two looked at eachother. "Of course my man will pay the bill like a gentleman." Zoe bragged. Frida gasped. "Well! At least MY man will... will... Give us a ride home!" "Well MY man will bring me some flowers and chocolate!" "Well... MY man could kick your man's boney ass!"

Manny and Django had continued arguing over the bill as the girls were arguing. "Fine! I'll pay for Frida's and my meals, and you can pay for Zoe's and yours!" Manny finally suggested. Django glared. "Fair enough." he reached into his pocket, retrieving an ancient golden coin, "You have change for what this is worth?" Django asked. El Tigre sighed. "I'll cover the tab and you can just pay me back." "No! I need to impress Zoe!" Django whisper-hollered. He shoved the coin into Manny's hands and took the money. "Trade!" he shouted, paying for the bill.

"Manny! Django winning is like Zoe winning! I can't stand that!" Frida told Manny quietly. "Frida, can't you and Zoe get out of your fued and competition? I mean, we're graduating soon..." "Look, we're not killing eachother and we're being about as nice as two lifetime mortal enemies can be." Manny stood for a second. "Fine! I'll think of something..." Manny finally said. It came to him in a flash. "Who wants to go to the carnival?" Manny asked. Zoe looked up. "That sounds great, Manny!" then to Django "Why didn't you think of that?" Django shrugged. "I'm still getting used to having a brain! Do you know how slow human brains work compared to the crystal-clarity of thought I got as a skeleton? Speaking of which, I can't push thoughts out of my head that I'm sure are inappropriate, and I itch all over!" Django complained, almost irked enough to return to his skeleton form. "Sigh... Nevermind, we can one-up Manny and Frida at the carnival! Come on, it'll be fun!" Zoe said, dragging Django along with her to Django's bike (parked next to Manny's El Camino, the only car he could afford from the lot).

---

The carnival was fun. Django and Manny had competed at almost every competetive game at the carnival, ever out-doing eachother for bigger and better gifts for their girlfriends. Eventually, Django burnt his skin off, melted his eyes, unravelled his muscles, and returned to his superhuman skeletal form. He threw a single baseball at the milk jugs, blowing a flaming hole through the three jugs and the booth. After handing the giant stuffed panda to Zoe (who was having trouble holding the hundreds of other won gifts) he turned to Manny. "Beat that, Rivera!" he laughed.

Manny spun his belt and cried out, "El Tigre!!!!" Django stopped laughing and turned to the booth amazed. Manny was throwing three baseballs at once (two with his hands, one with his tail) down the entire line, disintegrating each stack of jugs for ten rows. Manny stuck his tongue out at the awed Django as he passed him and gave Frida a large stack of large stuffed pandas, lions, and a single stuffed tiger. Frida and Zoe struggled to keep the large piles of gifts up. "I think we got in too far..." Frida let out. "Totally..." Zoe agreed, straining. "This fued and competition has gone on long enough... I mean, you found someone that I'm sure you think is better than Manny, so it's all cool, right?" Frida asked. "Well, I suppose our pranks on eachother have about evened up, and I know Django is better... As for it being cool, I can't even remember why we began fighting in the first place... It's... cool..." Zoe said. "Truce, Avez?" "Truce, Suarez." Both girls sighed relief as they saw Manny and Django checking their pockets and finding they ran out of money.

"Let me carry those for you, Mi Amore..." Django offered. Zoe blushed and giggled as she handed the stack of gifts to him. "I love a strong man... And so polite and bad too!" Zoe giggled. Manny cursed. "He's good..." he muttered. "Let me carry those for you, my dear." Manny offered to the passed out Frida who was underneath a stack of gifts. "Gracias..." she moaned from under the pile.

Manny and Django carried the gifts (and the girls who were on top the gifts, giggling) toward their vehicles. Manny put the gifts in the back of his El Camino, opened the car door for Frida, and then bungied the gifts down in the back. Django simply gasped at his motorcycle. "In the long run, a Camaro probably would've been better..." he noted. "It's ok, I can get my families black van, er... moving van to come pick the gifts up." Zoe offered. "No! I shall carry you home! This I swear!!!" Django shouted.

As if on cue, Manny began to start the car when his father, White Pantera and Frida's father, Officer Suarez, were standing next to the driver and passenger seat windows respectively. "Manuel Pablo Gutiérrez O'Brien Equihua Rivera! Do you know how late it is?!" Manny's father asked. "Uh... Oh! It's only twelve!" Manny responded, his curfew being eleven. "Twelve in the afternoon!" his father exclaimed. Manny looked around and saw it was bright and sunny. "Oh... Dang."

"Frida! Why do you keep hanging out with this boy? He has no track of time! He kept you out all night! Oh, your poor, terrified mother!" Officer Suarez went on. "Jeeze Dad, calm down. It was my idea to have Manny keep us out all night, well, sort of in a manipulative way. And it's not like we were alone! We were with Zoe and Django, on a double date!"

Pantera and Suarez froze. "Zoey Avez?! The girl who made you look like a slime monster and even hid a bear in your locker?!" Officer Suarez asked. "Yeah..." Frida said, shrugging it off. "Django of the Dead?! The grandson of Sartana of the Dead and the one who tried to kill us when Sartana said she was retiring?!" Pantera asked. "Jeeze, Dad, you make it sound so bad that way..." Manny said. Pantera and Saurez froze again. "DATE?!" they both shouted in unison. "Manny, you are too young to date!" Pantera argued. "Dad! I'm a senior, and me and Frida have been dating since we were Juniors! And YOU dated Mom in High School!" Manny argued. "That, heh... Was a different time?" Pantera offered to his glaring son. "Frida! I refuse to have you dating this, this, hooligan! He kept you out on all hours of the night and has been a thorn in this town's side for years!" "Dad! You told me once that you were happy that him and I were best friends! You said he did a good job at protecting me from the bad things that go on in this town!" Frida shouted. "Uh... It was a different time?" her father offered weakly. "It was two years ago!" Frida argued.

"Sucks to be those two!" Django chuckled. In a jet of flame, Sartana of the Dead and the Son of Sartana appeared in front of him. "Young man, how many times did I tell you to stay away from the Avez women?!" his father raged. "At least a dozen or so, papi..." Django admitted, "But I love her! My ribcage beats for her, even when I'm nothing but bones! I want to wreak havoc with her for eternity and then some!" Django said. "Ahhhhh...." Zoey teared up, "I lo--" she was cut off by a loud beeping from her watch. "Excuse me." she said, jumping off of the pile of gifts and into a nearby port-a-potty. "I forbid it, Djangy! The Avez women are all corrupt and greedy, though that is a good trait..." Sartana reasoned. "Zoey is different! I swear!" "Ha!" "No! I'd even put up my... my... I'd even put up my powers, my guitar, and my immortality as colatteral!" Django shouted. Sartana and his Dad gasped. "You... you don't mean that!" his father said. Django's glare was all the answer they needed. "Well, fine then!" Sartana said, "I'll take your bet! If Zoey dies and leaves you, wou will be stripped of your powers and of your guitar, forced to live like Francisco making guitars for other members of the family! Forever!!!!" Sartana cried. Just like that, they were gone.

Zoe answered her wrist communicator. "What is it?!" Zoe asked, irritated. "Don't use that tone with us, you little... Where were you?! White Pantera almost arrested us in our latest heist, and we didn't manage to steal the priceless jeweled egg!" her mother spat. "If you must know, I was on a wonderful double date with Django!" Zoe said. "Django? Oh... well then nevermind!" her mother said. "Wait, wha..?" Zoe asked, dumbfounded. "Just be home in time for dinner. As a matter of fact, invite him over! We'd love to meet him!" her mother said. Zoe was excited, the last time her crime partner came over, he had stood up for her and broker her heart the next day. But Django was different. "Of... of course! Wait, this isn't some cruel joke you're playing on me, is it?" Zoe asked. Her mother gasped. "Why would we purposely try to hurt you?" her mother asked. "I'm sorry Mama, I guess I've been a little untrusting lately..." Zoe apologized. "It's okay!" her mother chimed, and then the transmitter beeped off. Zoe hoped this dinner wouldn't go bad.

"Well this sucks!" Manny shouted after his dad and Frida's dad had left with Frida, "I just got grounded for a month!" "I just put my powers up as colatteral and said Zoe would never backstab me in the afterlife..." Django told him. "My parents were oddly fine with the whole situation..." Zoe said, then looked at Django. "You bet your powers and guitar on me staying with you forever?" Zoe asked. "Of course! I love you Zoe, and I want to be with you forever and beyond!" At first Zoe was offended, thinking that Django had bet on her, like a common race horse, but then she saw the whole sereious nature of the situation and ran up to hug the still-burdened with gifts Django. "Before I forget, my parents invited you over for dinner tonight!" she told him "At the Flock of Fury Lair." she whispered so Manny couldn't hear. Django saw the seriousness in that and hugged her back.


	6. Family Hurt

**Ok, this is the saddest chapter so far, depressing and doesn't really fit into the whole romance-humor thing I had going. I figured every love story needed at least one mood-killer to build suspense or whatever, so here it is! Enjoy, I guess.**

The dinner was pretty awkward for Django. He looked up from his meal to see Vultura and Lady Gobbler looking at him with large grins on their faces. Zoe was dressed in her Black Cuervo battlesuit and eating her spaghetti. Occasionally she'd look over to find Django staring at her. Django and Zoe would look away from eachother and blush (if Django had flesh) or stare at eachother for a minute before turning away.

"Oh, Senor 'of the Dead', why aren't you eating any of our home-cooked meal?" Lady Gobbler asked in a sweet old lady tone. "Oh, well Senora Gobbler, I'm a skeleton and don't really eat that much... And I got full after the eigth serving of shredded-gold topped cavier pizza..." Django explained. He was unsettled by their smiles. "I think they actually like you!" Zoe whispered as she leaned over next to him. "Soooo..." Vultura began, "You two have taken your relationship to the point of meeting our little Cuervo's parents (Lady Gobbler and me). Now I guess you'll take Zoe to see your incredibly wealthy and powerful family?" Zoe put her hands over her face. "Well, yeah, of course! Maybe if they see how lovely and kind she is, and how dispicably evil and greedy she can be, they'll finally stop pressuring me about my relationship with her and let us live together semi-peacefully." Django said.

"I suppose you'll wed our little Zoey eventually, too?" Lady Gobbler asked, wanting to make sure Zoe would be made an honest woman. "Grandma!" Zoe cried. Django could've blushed he was so embarassed. "Of course I will marry Zoe! When the time is right. I'm sure, since we are both still in High School and have only been dating for two weeks, that it would be too soon." Django said, swearing on his honor as an undead. Zoe looked at him, not sure what too feel or say. On one hand, he said he would definately marry her and would wait for when the time was right, but on the other he had said 'only' dating for two weeks and it was too soon.

Django had finished dinner and even offered to wash the dishes, asking if he could pick up Zoe the next day Lady Gobbler and Vultura were only too happy to agree. Django left, more comfortable than being cooped up with the two crazy bird-ladies anymore. Truly, the only thing that got him through the dinner was Zoe being there.

"Well, tomorrow will be our time to strike." Lady Gobbler said. "Wait, what?!" Zoe asked, turning on her mom and grandmother, "You two want me to stab Django in the back?!" "Of course! He already said he didn't want to marry you anyway!" her mother said. Zoe stood there, thinking for a second. "He... He only meant that it is too soon! I mean... We are only in High School..." Zoe tried too reason, but doubt clouded her mind. "Look, the Avez women always say that! Would you like to know the bad things that have happened to Avez women in the past?" her Grandmother asked, "I will tell you:

"The original Cuervo la Negra, or as your persona is, the Black Cuervo, dated the orginal El Tigre until her heart was broken! She ended up with another man in a loveless and abusive marriage. She gave birth to a woman who would become the evil Burning Phoenix! She dated Dark Leapord before he left town, claiming he had 'more important obligations. She was almost killed by her husband who was driven mad by a voodoo curse. Her daughter, the infamous Swanistra, dated the Rivera's first superhero, Golden Leon! Left her, broker her heart. Her later husband was some traveller who woed the ladies, left his seed, and left! They say there's one of his spawn in every country... Eaglar dated the Mighty Cheetar before she was dumped and her husband left her as well, not bothering to take care of the child. Finally, there was my mother, Parro Chica! She dated the Justice Jaguar, dumped, beaten by her husband, and left!"

Zoe gaped at the family history that was revealed to her. She knew that the Avez women were always stood up by or broken up with the Rivera men, but she didn't know the sevarity of the men that came after. "Cuervo la Negra was the only one to ever get married. I was left at the altar by Puma Loco and then drugged at a party! Next thing I know, I'm pregnant and without her father!" "And after I broke up with White Pantera, some jerk dated me for a few weeks, got me in bed, and then left without a word!" "White Panter broke up with you, darling..." "AS IF I COULD FORGET!!!!!" Zoe was in awe, but then she noticed something. "Well... at least the bad things that happened got progressively better." Zoe said. "What?!" her grandmother and mother asked in unison.

"Well, I mean, our first few ancestors were beaten and unloved by their husbands! At least in the more recent generations you were drugged or lied too, not beaten!" Zoe said. "We know it got better, but that doesn't mean Django isn't going to stand you up as soon as he gets in bed with you!" her mother said. "I won't let him in bed with me until after we get married!" Zoe shouted. "Oh, then perhaps he'll drug you, or you'll get drunk at some party!" her grandmother spat. "Why can't you two just trust Django?!" Zoe yelled. Before her relatives could answer Zoe ignited her jetpack and flew off, crying.

"I think we pushed too hard on her..." her mother said. "Of course we pushed too hard! This is terrible! I feel... I feel... I actually feel kind of bad..." her grandmother said. "Yeah, me too..." Both looked up at the ever-disappearing purple speck in the black of night. "Maybe she's right and Django is a good, well in a sense, guy." Vultura suggested. "I hope she is right. It would be terrible if she came home one of these days and I had to comfort another child of my loins..." Lady Gobbler said. A tear rolled down Vultura's face.

---

Zoe could barely see where she was flying due to her eyes blinded by tears. She finally landed on the Miracle City Volcano and cried until she couldn't cry anymore. She had felt even more heartbroken then when El Tigre had used her. Django usually went to the volcano to think, looking over the city. He heard familiar crying as he walked to the Miracle City sign and ran to see why they were crying. "Zoe!" Django shouted in surprise, running up to hug her. "Oh man, Zoe, are you ok?!" Zoe explained what happened and Django told her she could stay over for the night if she needed too.

"Well, -sniff-, I guess... But no! I must go back and face my family. I guess I just needed someone to talk too is all... It really helps. By the way, what'll be for dinner tomorrow?" Zoe asked, her mood reverting back to normal. "Well, ok then. If you ever need someone to talk to, about ANYTHING, I'm always here for you. Oh! I know our one-week anniversary was Friday and I'm two days late, but I needed those two extra days to make you this!" Django said, reaching past the locket she gave him for the anniversary and produced a small, wooden box. "I asked Fancisco to teach me how to make one." Django said. "Make a box?" Zoe asked, weighing it and looking and the beautifully carved details of the box. "That, and... well, you'll have to open it." Django said.

Zoe opened and gasped. It was a music box that played the love song Django played for her the first time they met. Inside the lid was a picture of the two of them and a in the box itself was a glass heart turning as the music played. "Django... it's... it's amazing..." Zoe said. "Well, Francisco said the same thing, but I figured he was lying..." Django rubbed the back of his skull. Zoe grabbed him by the collar and leaned in to kiss him passionately. Zoe thanked him for the gift and flew off to confront her parents.

---

"Zoe!" her mother said, running up to hug her. "We missed you, honey!" her grandmother said, "I'm sorry we pushed you so hard... It's just, we didn't want you to get hurt like we did!" "It's ok Grandmama, you too Mama! I talked with Django for a bit and he made me realise that you guys are just a little overprotective! I didn't want to mention the whole backstabbing him thing... But I love you guys!" they hugged eachother. "We love you too! And besides, who needs to steal their power? If things work out with two, an Avez will have eternal power anyway!" her mother said, laughing a little bit. "Well, I have proof of his love! Something he made for me out of materials he stole and took from wrecked homes!" Zoe said, producing the beautiful music box.

Her relatives gasped. "It's so beautiful!" her mother said. "He must truly love you if he put that much effort into a one-week anniversary gift." her grandmother agreed. "It even plays our song, which I'm fairly certain he wrote!" Zoe almost squealed. Again, her mother and grandmother gasped. "That's amazing!" they both said.

They sat and listened to the lovely music for hours, amazed that the box never wound out. Finally, when all was said and done, Zoe retired to bed after her mother and grandmother apologized once more. She forgave them and slept with wonderful dreams of love and hapiness, a first time that they were real and not just dreams.


	7. An Awkward Dinner

It was time for school again. The hours went by fast for Zoe, who only had to look at Django's smile to pass the time, their song playing in her mind. Manny and Frida sat close together, splurging about how their fathers had grounded Manny and forbid Frida from seeing Manny. For Django the hours were slow, as he could only think of the night too come. Everytime he looked at Zoe, it only reminded him of how bad he could screw up.

In science, they finished their science project. Using Zoe's tech-smarts, some equipment that Frida had brought from home, and Django and Manny's abilities, the group had built a miniatur particle accelerator that could produce enough energy to run a flashlight forever. "Oh my God! You guys actually came up with something useful?!" their science teacher asked in astonishment. "Uh... Don't we always come up with something useful?" Manny asked. "No, you guys always come up with model volcanoes." their teacher said flatly. He turned and walked away. "Wow, this was a fun project. Those are words I never thought I'd say in my life!" Frida said, "How'd you know how to build a particle accelerator the size of a flashlight, _Avez_?" Frida asked suspiciously. "Heheh... I, er..." Zoe began, cut off by her watch beeping loudly. "Oh, I need a new wrist communi-- Uh... Watch one of these days, heheh... Be right back!" Zoe said, running out of the room.

"Hmmmm..." Frida pondered. "Frida, stop trying to figure out Zoe's secret. Everytime you do, you make an outlandish remark and get suspended. Remember the time you said she was Black Cuervo?" Manny asked. "Ahahahahaha! Yes! Cause we all know Zoe Avez isn't Black Cuervo, ahahaha... heheh..." Django laughed nervously. Manny raised an eyebrow than turned back to Frida. "Anyway... Let it go! You, Zoe, Django, and I have all gotten past our differences and fueds (amazingly) and have proven we can have a great time together! Heck, I'm sure you and Zoe are even best friends!" Manny said. Out of no where, Black Cuervo flew through the wall covered in soot. "Curse you White Pantera! I will get vendetta for that! Vendetta on you!!!!" she yelled before flying through the ceiling. A minute later Zoe walked back into the room, a mess. "Ahahahaha... Uh, what I miss?" she asked, smiling really big.

Frida ignored her. "I guess you're right Manny. I mean, not the friend part, but we aren't killing eachother, and that's good! I think..." "Yeah! Oh yeah, you want to hang out later? As part of my punishment I have to help my dad stop _someone_ at this table's relative..." Manny said, making a pointing motion to Django. "I'm not stupid, you know. I can tell your talking about my Nana." Django responded. "I didn't say anything!" Manny said. Django slitted his eyes at him and pointed two of his fingers at his eyes, then Manny's, then his own again.

"Well, maybe we'll, er, I mean, maybe Black Cuervo and I will see you try to rescue Frida again when I bring her over for my family to meet. They're interested in my crime partner." Django said. Frida scowled. "I don't always get caught by her! I'll prove it tonight! This I swear!!!!"

---

"I told you you'd get caught again, Suarez." Django said, a wide grin on his boney face. Black Cuervo stood beside him, not acting as close as usual to keep from it seeming like her and Django were dating and not Django and Zoe. "I know, I know! You know Manny'll be here soon and if you don't let me out, he'll probably discintegrate you again by breaking your little guitar." Frida shouted back. "Little?!" Django scoffed. Sartana of the Dead appeared and stopped the arguing. "Well well, Djangy... Is this the little girl you've been telling me about?" Sartana asked.

Django quickly ran to her side and began whispering into what Zoe and Frida assumed was her ear. At one point she looked up at Frida then back and Django. "I see... Identity crisis, much? Oh well! El Tigre'll come along shortly to pick her up anyway, then the interogation, I mean dinner, can go underway." Sartana said. As if on cue, Manny busted through the wall of the house yelling his hero name. "Speak of the devil..." Zoey said. "Well, let's see your gir-- er, crime partner prover herself a villian! Defeat El Tigre in battle, and I might be impressed..." Sartana said. Django gasped. "Nana! I don't want her killed!" Django said. "What?!" Zoe asked. Before Django could answer, Zoe had leapt forward and activated her jetpack, greatly increasing her punch's momentum.

The blow sent Manny flying across the room, back through the hole in the wall. Zoe grabbed the cage Frida was in, and as soon as El Tigre sat up, she threw the cage with the screaming Frida at El Tigre. It broke on collision and sent the couple rolling down the hill and landing in the back of Manny's El Camino. Dizzied, they sat up and looked at the floating shape of Black Cuervo. "Go home, Rivera, while I still have mercy! Or do you want to see me achieve my vendetta?" Zoe asked menacingly before laughing maniacally. Manny and Frida drove off.

After she landed, Sartana clapped her hands together. "Very good, Chica, very good indeed. You didn't kill him, but I guess it's harder for a mortal to take a life." she congratulated Zoe. Django was happy until the conversation went south. "So, have you taken my grandson's virginity yet?" she asked flatly, a tinge of spite in her voice. "NANA?!" Django asked, embarassed to the point that his bony cheeks began to clow red from fire. Zoe was wide-eyed. "Uh... No... I didn't even know skeletons could... I mean they don't have... I guess in his human form it might be... Uh..." she said, startled at the question and trying to avoid eye contact as the question made her blush a lot.

"Hmmmm... Well, the skeleton reproductive cycle--" "Nana, please don't embarass me in front of Zoe like this..." "Quiet, Djangy! Anyway, the skeleton can make love in human form, however the seeds or eggs in my case are dead and cannot form into a child. The dead seed either kills the egg and a skeleton child is born after the mother is dead (or the egg kills the seed in some cases) or the dead seed mixes with the living egg, creating something of a demigod. This is extremely rare! This person will be human, but granted powers of the undead, including imortallity and never-aging! Another strange thing, since genes are killed from the dead seed, if a human-dominant child is born, it only gains traits from its mother and the undead powers from its father, creating a virtual clone of the mother, accept in an even rarer case where it came out as a boy."

Zoe was astnoished. That means that as powerful as Sartana was, their was a human with her powers, unless Sartana did away with her. It also meant that she'd either give birth to a demigod or had to wait until she died to have a child, if she decided to birth Django's children. Django sat down, his hands covering his face as he shook his head slowly. "I just want you to know this. Oh, and don't you dare backstab my Djangy-wangy, or I'll make your afterlife hell times ten!" Sartana threatened. "Now who wants dinner?" she asked sweetly, leading the awe-struck Zoe and the ever-embarassed Django to the dining room.

The dinner had been laced with poison and Django saved Zoe from that among the other countless booby traps in the room. Finally, Zoe went home thanking for Sartana for the dinner and the fun time. Django was exhausted from the constant death defying. As soon as Zoe left, Sartana turned towards her grandson. "You must really like her if you were willing to stop all those attempts on her life... Or are you afraid she'd leave you if she found out your grandmother killed her?" Sartana smirked. Django gasped, seeing just how dirty Sartana would try to win this bet. "Nana! I'm surprised at your dispicable and evil tormentuous nature! I have to admit, it's pretty good... But still! Can't you just try to keep from ruining this chance at love? Did your parents interfere when you dated Puma Loco those two times?" Django asked. "Honey, I killed my parents permanately years ago and added them to my skeleton banditos." Sartana said. "Damn, you are evil... I'm glad your my mentor and not one of my rivals." Django admitted.

"Well, go to bed Djangy, I have some big news to tell you this upcoming weekend." Sartana said, turning and chuckling in a low, evil tone as she walked away. Django blinked and looked at the clock. It was earlier then usual, but he was tired. Django went to bed and had a couple of wonderful nightmares.


	8. The Greatest Evil Academy on Earth!

The week had gone by quickly and happily for the two young couples. During the day, the two couples would spend time with eachother, glare, compete, admit equality, and go back to working together. At night, if the couples weren't on a double date or dating seperately, the four would usually meet up robbing banks and musuems or El Tigre and Frida would be trying to stop Django and Black Cuervo from robbing banks and musuems. Near the end of the week El Tigre, Frida, Black Cuervo, and Django of the Dead were all sitting on a large sack of cash, jewels, gold, and rare and valuable bird-themed statues and vases, talking about there families.

"Ugh... My dad keeps trying to get me to be a police officer when I get out of high school. Can't he see that I just want to be a rock star?" Frida moaned, taking a bite out of a churro they had stolen. "That's nothing! I have distant cousins who are a constant nuisance..." Zoe said, "I mean, you know how my family, the Flock of Fury, is all bird-themed? Well, these locos are all--" she was cut off by the wall behind them exploding and several well-dressed gentleman with various mechanical objects protruding from their backpacks walked through. One was in a trench coat and wore a German Officer uniform and a pack that had four mechanical spider-like limbs protruding from his pack. Another wore a tuxedo and had four insect-like wings sticking out of the sides of his pack. The last one had a zoot suit and had a pack armed with various needles and chemical vats.

"Speak of the devils now..." Zoe muttered. "Krieg Spinne!!!" the German-spider-legged villian yelled. "Tuxedo Dragonfly!!!" the winged-tuxedo-themed villian yelled. "Tóxico Zoot!!!" the last villian yelled. "Together we are the Insectos Señores!!!" they yelled in unison, flying up to the top of the sack of loot. "Good day, girlie!" Dragonfly said to Frida. "Hello Cuervo." Krieg said flatly, "Your family decided not to show up to the reunion again." "Because we'd rather be dead than go to a reunion of _that_ part of our family! He was a monster and a pervert, and you know it!" "Yes, but it's a mutual hatred we share for our common ancestor! Our ancestors were abused by him as well, and our families are the descendants of his love-children! Can't we bond over that?" Krieg asked. "No." Zoe responded flatly. "Very well, than be destroyed!" Krieg yelled, his mechanical legs rising high into the air and then crashing down into the sack of loot.

The group was swept away, downhill by the wave of riches only for Dragonfly to swoop down and grab Frida, and Zoot to harpoon Django and reel him out of the wave. Manny launched his claw at Dragonfly, wrapping it around his foot. Dragonfly laughed maniacally as he flew. "Huh?" he muttered, noticing he wasn't going anywhere. "El Tigre! Ha! You have yet to see my wings at full speed!" Dragonfly shouted back to Manny before his wings began to beat faster and faster, dragging Manny along with him.

Zoot kept launching poison-drenched metal spikes into Django's clothing and the spikes grappled onto his bones. Zoot laughed menacingly as he began to drag the ever-resisting Django clsoer and closer into his clutches. Granted the poison would have no effect on him, put the acidic properties could wreak havoc on his guitar. Zoe was having a hard time dodging her cousin who's mechanical limbs helped him jump high after her as sh tried to fly away. Finally, he fired a net launcher from his pack. Zoe's foot got caught in the net. "End of the line, little birdie!" Krieg cried from below.

Thinkg fast, Zoe began to shake her leg back and forth. At first, not much happened and Krieg laughed at her. Soon he was dragged forward, and then backwards. "What the hell?" he muttered. Eventually, the momentum had built up and Zoe was swinging him faster and faster, off of the ground, in the air where his limbs were all but useless. She angled the kick right and fired her laser at the rope. Krieg went flying through the air, screaming as he came crashing down onto Dragonfly.

Django was tied up, his guitar held the hands of the insidious Zoot who produced a vile of acid. "Adios, Django of the Dead!" he laughed before being buried by his cousins. The guitar slid back into the hands of Django who broke free of his bondings. The cousins took off their broken packs and looked up as four shadows loomed over them. "Heheh... Uh... Boys will be boys?" Krieg said weakly. A laser-packed uppercut sent the three flying into the darkness of the night, screaming.

"Well, it's getting late and I gotta get back before Dad kills me..." Manny said. "Yeah, I don't feel like being interrogated by my dad." Frida agreed. "I have to help my grandmother and mother steal some gem tonight." Zoe said, "And don't tell your father I said that either." she followed, pointing at El Tigre. "Yeah, and Nana said she wanted to talk to me about something." Django added. The four seperated and went to their individual homes, Django giving Zoe a ride and Manny walking Frida home since they were near her house.

---

Django arrived home, whistling as he opened the door. He stopped whistling when he saw his dad and Sartana standing in front of him. "Young man..." Sartana said, in a low menacing growl, "You've just been accepted to the greatest academy of evil, in the world!!!!" she finished, her voice perking up to a happy tone. Django's mouth gaped. "I true honor! Every member of the 'of the Dead' family has attended the school and we expect you to be no different, son." his father said. "An academy of evil?" Django asked, "They really have one of those?" he asked in disbelief. "Yes, there is actually an academy of evil!" his father said. "It's a choice to go, but if you don't, you'll have to wait nearly a millenia to be accepted again, just like your great-great-great grandfather, Great-Great-Grandfather of Sartana!" Django blinked. "That was his name?" he asked, again in disbelief. "Believe it or not, yes." Sartana said.

"So, what if I wanted to wait a millenia?" Django asked. "Oh, well we'd feel you had learned nothing from us on seizing oppurtunities when they arise and would be heartbroken and disappointed in you." his father said. "Really? Heheh... I can always change my mind if I want to go?" Django asked, nervous. "Of course! But remember, you can never change your mind on going! You have a week of preperation and then it's off to the school!" Sartana chimed, leaving the room with his father.

Django stood there, silent at first. "Hooray." he said weakly. He pulled out the locket of him and Zoe, a nice picture of them sitting in a park bench, laughing. Many would say it must have been a sweet moment, and to Zoe and him it was. They had just tripped rollerskaters that were passing by and began to laugh about it. Django smiled, but inside he was torn up. He couldn't leave Zoe, but a millenia of living with his disappointed parents was almost unimaginable. Django looked up to the stars and sighed.


	9. All Caught Up

Django flew backwards into a stack of empty oil drums at the shipyard he and Zoe met up at. His human form now had a broken nose and was bleeding. "Z-Zoe! Calm down! I can explai--" "Calm down?! You want me to calm down?! You're leaving me!!!!" Zoe cried out, "I should have known! My mother and grandmother were right!" Zoe began to cry. "Zoe, just please let me explain! I've been offered a once-in-two-hundred-lifetimes chance to go to the world's most evil academy! My family would hate me if I didn't!" Django tried to explain. Zoe stood there, her arms crossed. "Just go." she said coldly. "Zoe..." "GO!!!!" she yelled, activating her jetpack and flying away into the night.

---

Django didn't show up for school the rest of the week, as he was too busy training. On the outside he faced tormentous and exhausting training, beatings and firefights, had to improve his guitar-avoiding-destruction skills. On the inside, he was reduced to mush. At night he couldn't sleep, or worse, cried. Not even his pacifier which he had kept through the years as a reminder of his childhood helped him deal with the pain.

For Zoe it was worse. At first she cried, all weekend she cried. First line of the family to lose the second man and not even have a child to raise, no one to love on or enjoy. Her family helped her as best they could. Next she felt regret, but that was a short emotion compared to her next: hatred. A burning, seeping, hatred boiled through her veins, at first for Django, but then it turned on Frida and Manny. How they would live happily ever after, and Zoe would be lonely forever, not even a child to call her own. Over the week, Zoe glared at them through school, following them after school, as if she were trying to get their scent. At night she would plot revenge plans.

Finally, an opurtunity came to her. Frida was throwing an end-of-school-forever party at the end of the week after graduation, and do to their fued being ended, she even invited Zoe. Zoe used all her training, all her acting lessons to act sweet and nice to Frida, gushing about how she had never gone to a party before. Frida gasped at this news, but then turned away, a guilty look on her face from the years she had invited everyone to her parties except Zoe. Frida had never noticed before, but it was a rather crummy thing to do. Frida left, leaving Zoe to her murderous and violent thoughts.

The party finally arrived and Zoe managed to slip something into Manny and Frida's drinks and drug them out of the party. They awoke in a broken pueblo hut, looking into the face of Black Cuervo. "Well, if it isn't Black Cuervo, or should I say Zoe?" Manny said after he came too. Zoe wasn't the least bit surprised at them discovering her secret. She was surprised that they didn't figure it out in Middle School. "I have to admit, you kept the secret hidden well over the years." Frida said, though Zoe remained glaring. "The reason I am giving you two the privalege of seeing my face," Zoe finally said as she began to remover he infamous Black Cuervo battlesuit helmet, "is because it is the last thing you will ever see!"

Zoe fired her laser at the two tied teens, but was startled when the blast was deflected by a flying pair of goggles. The beam ricocheted and cut Manny's belt from a nearby branch. Manny made a mad scramble for them though he was tied up. Zoe stepped on the belt and aimed for his head. "As I said before, GOOD BY--" she said before footsteps outside cut her off. The room was soon filled with wonderous romantic music. "Wait... that sounds like..." Zoe began, but merely gasped when she saw Django appeared in the doorway, playing their song on his guitar. She cried out his name and ran up to hug him, hoping this wasn't a delusion, a dream.

Manny and Frida, after seeing the two date in a week, were still shocked to see the once-vengeful and destructive goth girl, crying and hugging the undead teen. "I thought you'd be out of town until the end of the year!" Zoe said, recalling the academy offer he got. "Well, I thought so too, but Nana told me that leaving was my idea, and it was mine to change if I so wanted. This whole time I thought she would be furious if I didn't go!" Django said. "Well, I'm glad you decided to come back early!" Zoe said. The two kissed passionately for nearly twenty seconds. "Let's go back to my lair..." Zoe cooed, rubbing an extended claw around Django's chest, quickly pulling him out of the room. "Aye caramba!" Django shouted as he was dragged out of the room.

Manny and Frida were stunned at what had happened and were terrified when Zoe came back in to finish something, but she had only come in to pick uper her helmet. After they were gone for twenty seconds, Frida finally broke the silence. "Well..." she said, "that was the biggest graduation shock I've seen today..." Manny laughed quietly at the joke after a few seconds of contemplation. He busted them out of their bondings and drove Frida back to the party. Zoe and Django were there, but the two couples didn't want to bring up what had just happened. The group's friendship was strained slightly after that day, and due to graduation and going their seperate ways, the foursome only met on holidays, though their friendship was stronger than before.

So closes this chapter of their lives, an uncertain future ahead for our favorite couples...

---

PREVIEW FOR NEXT SECTION

"You did what?!" Sartana asked her grandson, rage ringing out of the rooms. "I... well, Zoe and I... had... relations?" Django said weakily. "Oh, Django... That disturbs even me! But this is much worse than I feared..." Sartana shook her head. "Nana, you said yourself that she can't be impregnated, or at least it wouldn't show until death." Django argued. "Fool! I never said you couldn't! I told you there was always the possibility of her giving live birth to a being with demigod-like powers! Now you come to me, telling me she missed her period (there's something I don't miss from living)!" Sartana cursed as she left the young Django standing there.

After awhile, Django went to go see Zoe. He had no idea whaty he was going to tell her.

**And so ends the first section of my fanfic! The next section will have to do with their lives after High School, in college. The third section is still a surprise! I hope this chapter didn't seem too short, I really didn't feel like making an awkward silent dance at the party scene... R&R please**


	10. Part II: What Did You Do?

Django arrived home, later than usual even from his spending time with Zoey Avez, the woman he loved. He had been at the local Miracle City Community College visiting Zoe before returning to his home in the underworld. Sartana was waiting for him. "Nana? I thought you stopped this waiting thing." Django said, lowering his eyelids. Sartana sniffed the air. Their was a faint scent of fermeldahide. "Django... You and Zoe didn't..." Sartana asked, a look of horror on her face.

Django would've turned bone white if he wasn't already bone white. "What are you talking about, Nana? Besides, we are both 20 right now! She's almost done getting her whatever degree in that bird-science-thing, and I just landed a piece of property in the upper city. Don't ask how I got it though..." Django said. Sartana glared at him. "Please tell me you used protection at least." Sartana said. "Heheh... Well... Undead don't transmit diseases..." Django said nervously.

Sartana shook her head. "This is terrible! Django, be careful about this!" Sartana warned. "But Nana, Zoe is fine with having a child when she's dead! She said she'd definately be ready by then. Plus, well, it's... It's f***ing amazing! I wish I was alive sometime, because, damn! That is better than mortal pain! Wooooo!" Django regained his poise, "Errr... Sorry Nana." Sartana was rubbing her eye sockets with her boney fingers, disturbed. "Django, remember the possibility of a lifetime birth..." Sartana warned. "Yeah, extremely rare." "AND extremely rare that the mother survives giving birth to a, a demon!" Sartana yelled. Django flinched. The idea of Zoe dying was bittersweet. It meant an eternity with her, where nothing could hurt her, but it also meant that she would lose everything she had known. She'd have to get used to the feelings of the undead, slowly regaining her humanity. He didn't want her to go through the traumatic process, certainly not this early in her life.

Django turned and left the room, turning as he reached the door. "Yes Nana, I will be careful from now on." he said solemnly as he left. Sartana was disturbed, but she admired her grandson.

---

Zoe sat on her bed. It was nearly the end of the month and she had no bad day. No _really_ bad day. None of _those_ bad days. She was beginning to worry. She wondered if she had a disease, or if she had some defect, or if she was reaching an early menapause, or if she was pregnant. No, definately not the last one. She had only had relations with Django, and he was undead, all his seed dead and useless until she was dead. Then she wondered if she had slept with someone that was not Django. No! She could never be drugged, she was trained to detect even the most minor traces of drugs and poisons in her drinks or food by her family.

Zoe paced her room, soon breaking into a sweat. There were other symptoms as well. She had been eating more and was going through mood swings, usually asking her mother or grandmother questions she had never asked before. Just the day before she had asked them if she was fat, and her mother and grandmother were surprised by the question and replied with 'what?' only to have Zoe start crying, and then yell, and then apologize and return to eating. Her parents weren't stupid, however, and knew the signs of childbirth (especially her grandmother).

Finally they confronted her. "Zoe..." her grandmother began, "What have you and Django been up to?" Zoe glanced at her mother, then her grandmother, then looked down at her gut. "Uh... Well... He got us a house... And helped me study last week..." "Is that all he, ahem, _helped_ you with?" her mother asked. Zoe's mood swings got the best of her. "We had sex!" she fell to the floor crying. Her mother was surprised at the immediate confession, but her grandmother had seen it once before and was used to it. "And it was awesome!" Zoe finished, disturbing her mother and grandmother. "Zoe... I don't think we really wanted to know that..." her mother said, holding back the urge to vomit.

"Sorry..." Zoe apologized, regaining her composure. "It's..." her grandmother sighed, "Ok. We understand... But... with who?" "Django..." Zoe said. "That's impossible!" he mother said, "You're showing signs of pregnancy and you told us undead can't reproduce with the living!" "I know! I'm shocked too..." Zoe said, drying her eyes. "Well, maybe you're just ill. It happens sometimes." her grandmother offered. Zoe relaxed and her parents left, hoping that it was just an illness.

Zoe answered the door after the bell rang. It was Django. She closed the door behind her as she walked out. "Well..." Django said. "Um..." Zoe said. The two rubbed that backs of their heads, avoiding eye contact. "So... errr... I can't get a disease or pregnant, right? Not until I die anyway, right?" Zoe finally asked. Django looked her in the eyes, but quickly avoided them again. "Definately not a disease... And it's incredibly unlikely that you'd get pregnant during your life..." Django finally said, trying to avoid the answer. "I can still get pregnant?!" Zoe asked. "Well, yes, but it's incredibly rare!" Django assured her, "We'll be careful from now on! It was teen foolishness is all. Nothing bad happened, so we just have to play it safe from now on."

Zoe looked away, frightened. "Zoe?" Django asked, "Is there something you're not telling me?" "Well... I... haven't had a bad day...." Zoe said. Django raised an eyebrow. "All month...." Zoe said. Django's eyebrow remained raised until realization hit him. "Th... There's gotta be another explanation!" Django said at last. "I could have an illness that occurs in some women.... It's rare though..." Zoe admitted. Django's human form broke into a cold sweat. He could be a father, father to a demigod! But he was more worried by the possibility of Zoe not surviving.

"Zoe... If you do give birth to our child..." Django let out, "Would you forgive me? Would you still..." he had difficulty getting the word to form, "love me?" Now Zoe was a truthful person to the ones she loved. She did not wish to twist his heart, and did not want the child to live on as the other Avez women have; raised by a single parent who were hurt by their wounded hearts. Django was now almost in a puddle of sweat as he waited for a response.

"Yes." Zoe said at last. "Yes to loving me or to the forgiving me?" "To both." Django sighed a deep and powerful sigh. "I am SO relieved!" Django said. Zoe's moodswings acted up. "WELL THAT'S GREAT FOR YOU!!!!" she yelled, startling the relieved Django, "Do you know what's going to happen to my body?!" Zoe asked. "Something... painful?" Django asked. "IT'LL BE LIKE BEING RIPPED IN HALF!!!!" Zoe yelled. "It's not so bad being ripped in half..." Django said. Fortunately Zoe changed moods again to her normal self. "I guess not, but you are undead, heheheheh!" she said quickly, her right eye twitching, "Do you think I'm fat?" Django blinked. "Wha..?" Zoe began to cry. "You think I'm fat and ugly!!!!" Zoe cried out. "No! Nononononononononononono! You are the single most beautiful woman I've ever seen!" Django said. "Liar!" Zoe shouted.

Django continued to take her abuse and comfort her for the next week. By the end of the week he was exhausted. He asked Sartana, "Nana, how long do mortal pregnancies last, even if it is to a demigod?" "Well, Djangy... I suppose that'd still be about nine months." Sartana answered. She heard Django let out a long and strained moan of agony. _Serves him right for not listening to my warnings._ Sartana thought, _Maybe she'll die and leave him._ Sartana smiled, her true colours showing once more as she snickered.


	11. Proposals of All Sorts

Frida was having a bad day. Her daughter was having a fit and Manny was late from work. Manny opened the door, smoke rising from his singed hair. "Manny! What happened?" Frida asked, seeing him dizzied. "I was stopping Django and Zoe from stealing some endangered condor. Apparently it was some makeup date. Must've been, Django took every strike for Zoe!" Manny laughed, waving the smoke from his hair. Frida rocked their child in her arms, smiling at the medium-skinned, deep blue-haired infant. Then she remembered when she was pregnant and Manny took every hit for her.

"Manny, what if she's... well... Pregnant?" Frida inquired. "What? Zoe? Impossible! Django's undead! He can't possibly reproduce! Can he?" Manny wondered. "Sartana had a son, and Django's dad had Django, so why not?" Frida asked. Manny thought about it. Zoe did act more random in her mood than usual, going from her standard love/hate towards Manny and more in the homicidal, then crying, then being hyper, then back to homicidal. Frida acted the same way when she was pregnant with their daughter.

And then he smiled. _Their_ daughter. Their _daughter_. The first Rivera to ever be a girl! A break in the family history. When they were children, Manny and Frida would have gagged at the idea of being married or having kids. But it happened. When they learned how children were conceived and born, they would have vomitted at the thought of having one together. After they began to date, they simply blushed. Then Manny proposed and the two had a large wedding, Frida swept off her feet in romance. Manny smiled once more.

"Why are you smiling?" Frida asked. She was answered by a kiss. She closed her eyes to enjoy it when the baby began to cry again. As Frida turned to pick up the baby, Manny noticed the bags under her eyes. He quickly grabbed the baby. "Frida, I'll spend some time with the baby. You should probably get some rest. If that's ok with y--" he was cut off by Frida quickly running to the bedroom and burying herself in her sheets. "--ou..." Manny finished.

Frida didn't expect to get married or have a child until after her rock star career picked up. Now she felt like a one hit wonder since she had made an entire album that was a smash hit in Mexico, parts of the US, South America, and Australia. She needed some time to write some new songs and get them recorded. She needed to sign a deal. She couldn't just leave the baby all alone, definately not in the hands of Manny! She wondered if there were any friends she had that would take care of little Samantha for her. Her bandmates would work with her for the album. Zoe and Django were her only other close friends, and growing up in the underworld seemed a little... wrong for a human child. Zoe's family seemed normal enough during the day, though Frida noticed Zoe's recent moodswings and didn't trust her.

Her parents perhaps? God no! She didn't want her parents to raise her child (even temporarily) as a strict police-child. No, she needed someone more competent, someone who would take babysitting seriously and rarely went through moodswings...

Krieg Spinne glared and Frida as he stood in his pajama bottoms and his undershirt, his hair a mess as he stood on his front porch holding a small child. "Now, here's a list of lullabies she loves, a list of her favorite mashed foods, and some of her favorite movies, and some of her favorite formula (remember to buy THIS brand), and--" "Frida..." "Don't forget the--" "Frida... I don't know how to take care of a child... And I'm going back to Germany after I'm done with college..." Krieg put in. "Wh.. What?" Frida's bottom lip quivered. Krieg straightened his back. Like nearly every male supervillian in Miracle City, he had a slight crush on her. "Pweeeeeease?" Frida asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

Krieg held as long as he could, but as soon as his right arm twitched, Frida knew she had won. "So I'll pick her up at 7:00 AM in two weeks?" Frida asked. Krieg squirmed. "Yes..." he muttered in defeat. "Great! Oh, and no supervillian-ing until I pick Samantha up!" Frida warned. Krieg crossed his heart with his right hand, holding Samantha in his left. "Officer's honour." he swore. "Yay! Oh, by the way, which army did you serve with?" Frida asked, curious. Krieg stood silent for a moment. "I actually have never served in the military... This is my great grandfather's uniform." "Was he the one that slept with a woman in every country?" "No... I do believe that that was HIS father, my great-great-grandfather. I think?"

Frida ran to Manny's car and blew Krieg a kiss. Krieg's lowwer lip quivered slightly before he turned to go into his apartment. After he was in he sat the baby in the playpen Frida and Manny helped him set up. He stared at the adorable child, a spitting image of both her parents. He smiled before looking around and remembering what Manny had said earlier. He repeated it to himself. "What a dump..." he muttered, begining to clean.

"So doc, heheh... What do you see?" Django in his human form asked. The doctor moved the imaging device over Zoe's stomach. "Well, it's still a little early, but there is an egg that has begun to multiply. Congratulations! You two are gonna be parents!" the doctor smiled.

Django and Zoe's jaws dropped. "You should start showing in a few weeks, come visit me soon so we can check and see how it is developing." the doctor ordered, shooing them from the room. Again he congratulated the two. Django and Zoe's faces were still slack, their mouths agape, as they rode home on Django's motorcycle. "Well... At least now we know, heheh..." Zoe joked, trying to make the mood easier for herself. Django as frightened. Surprisingly not even on Zoe dying or even leaving him. He surprised on if he was going to be a good father. Would he teach it how to do evil and yet still find love? Would he be a bad enough role model for it? And then he wondered how he would bond with a daughter, remembering that it was incredibly rare for demigod-like undead/human spawned during life to be a boy and not an utter clone like his beautiful girlfriend.

"I'm sorry..." Zoe said, "You wanted to take me somewhere special, and I went and suggested we go see if I'm pregnant!" "Don't be sorry! If anyone should be, it should be me. Besides, we're heading to that special place now." Django said. And as if on cue, the duo passed her house and headed for the Miracle City Volcano. Django parked the motorcycle and borught Zoe to watch the sunset with him from the top of the volcano. The backglow from the volcano intwined with the purplish light of the sunset creating a beautiful atmosphere, relieving them of all their tension. Now was as good a time as ever for Django.

Django stood up and asked Zoe to stand up as well. "What's wrong?" Zoe asked. "Nothing, I just wanted to ask you something before it got to dark to see." Django said. "See what, exactly?" Zoe asked. Django got onto one knee, producing a expertly carved wooden box. Zoe's heart skipped a beat as her eyes widened. Django opened the box and the backglow of the volcano reflected off of the large gem in the beautifully crafted golden ring. It was a pink opal, to match her eyes. Zoe's moth was open, stunned and silent. "I once asked you, the Black Cuervo, to be my partner in crime. Now I ask you, Zoey Avez, if I may take your hand in holy and unholy matrimony, so we may stroll down the aisle and be wed together, and so we may live together, wreaking havoc and chaos on mortals, even in death. In short: Zoey, will you marry me?"

Zoe would've passed out if she didn't have better control. Slowly she began to nod, tears forming in her eyes. "Yes!" she yelled, "YES!!!" she yelled to make sure all of Miracle City heard her answer. Django smiled and let out a sigh of relief. He was sure he would have botched that. They kissed as the sun went down, hopped onto the motorcycle, and rode of into the moonlight.


	12. PreWedding Jitters

TWO WEEKS LATER

Frida scowled at the fully-dressed Krieg Spinne. Her daughter was being carried in a spider-legged carrier that followed Krieg around. "Oh, hello Mrs. Rivera." Krieg said. Frida motioned her arm at the mechanical thing that carried her child. "That? It's, well, a spider-carrier. A personal invention." "I said no supervillian-ing, and that kind of implied no building deadly contraptions!" "It's not deadly! Well... Not to the child anyway." Krieg muttered. Frida raised an eyebrow. "Well, it's got a defense mechanism..." A butterfly landed gently on the stoller, but was immediately fried by an invisible current of electricity. Frida grit her teeth at the proud officer.

"So, how was the record deal?" Manny asked as he drove Frida and Krieg to the hospital. Krieg was in the back seat with Samantha, keeping his head held backwards to prevent his nose from losing too much blood. "Well, we're in business! I only have to make two more albums and our family should be set for a long time!" Frida explained, excited, "But what did I miss?" "Well," Krieg began, "I got my degree in entymology and will be heading back to Germany to train in my selected field and will fund my research with money I, ahem, 'earn', from my 'hobby'." "You also missed the wedding invitations." Manny added. Krieg nodded, only slightly as he had to hold his head back.

"Really?! Oh man, who's getting married?!" Frida asked, surprised. "I'll tell you her soon-to-be name: Zoey Carmelita Aves-of the Dead." Manny said. Frida's mouth hung open. "Shut up! They're finally getting married?! Holy cow! Who else is invited?!" Frida asked.

"Well, there's Sartana of the Dead, Francisco of the Dead, Son of Sartana, and a couple of undead banditos for Django's family. As for Zoe, there's her grandmother, her mother, you remember Ms. Aves from art? There's us, our relatives, and even her three cousins, Krieg, Dragonfly, and Zoot." Manny said. Krieg looked at Manny. "You forgot her little sister, Jay." he said. "Who?" Manny asked. "The girl in middle school? Looked like Zoe, only had blue eyes and wore blue alot? She was the Blue Jay? Fought with her sister alot? Over YOU?" Frida said. Manny blinked. "Nope, not ringing a bell." Manny finally said. Both Krieg and Frida groaned.

Jay was doing her sister's hair into a beautiful style, curls at the front sides of her face while the rest was swept back into a ponytail. "Thank you for helping me, sis. I'm so glad we got over that rivalry. Can you believe we used to fight over Manny? Hahahahaha!" Zoe laughed. Jay pulled slightly on the brush, taking a few hairs out. "OW! Jay?" Zoe asked. "Huh? Oh, yes sis. I apologize! Seeing you so happy and with a man is so..." she rolled the word in her mouth as if it wer a burning and melted marshmallow, "...nice." she spat. "Isn't it though?!" Zoe asked, but then looked at her depressing sister in the mirror, her sister glaring at her and gritting her teeth.

Zoe shut up about her special day, fearing she'd ruin the little bit of relationship she had regained with her sister. Jay sighed and began to brush Zoe's hair more gently. She was appalled when Zoe began to date Manny. She secretly loved it when he broke up with her sister, and even once when she mentioned it Zoe replied, in reference to her mother, "As if I could forget!!!" But now Zoe was getting married, and she was single. Alone. Now she felt bad they she had felt bad about her sister finally finding someone. She felt bad that she had fought over Manny Rivera with her, only for him to be stolen from both of them. She was actually friends with Frida, only because her sister loathed her.

Now she was here, all alone, at the wedding of her sister. Zoe, having no other friends, had made Frida and Jay her bride's maids. It was mostly an attempt to further build a better bond with her sister and Frida, but she was very happy she had chosen them. Frida was looking through the closet finding the perfect dress for Zoe. "It has to be something dark, something evil... This is a supervillian wedding after all. How do you feel about wearing goggles?" she had asked. Zoe glared at her. "What?! Goggles are awesome!"

Jay finished doing her sister's hair and Zoe marvelled at her beautiful craftsmanship and handywork in the small mirror she had on her desk. "Thank you, sis! I love the ponytail in the back! It's so cute!" Zoe said, showing her gratitude. Jay couldn't help but smile. She was indeed proud of her cosmetic and hairdressing skills. Zoe still noticed the depressed glance Jay gave her, hiding it under her long, black with blue streaks hair. "Jay, you're not still mad about the whole Manny/me thing, are you?" Zoe asked. "NO!" Jay shouted, her eyes blazing fire for a brief moment, "I mean, no..." Zoe blinked. "What happened to that one kid... Davi, right? He seemed nice." Frida asked, remembering how Jay and Davi were going out with eachother before she graduated middle school.

"We were, but he was so... annoying. And he's dating some chick..." "Sergio? I heard you and Senor Sinestro were crime partners for a time." Zoe mentioned. "Ugh... Don't remind me... Plus he's going out with some chick." "Well, what about Diego Chipotle Jr.?" Frida asked. "That freak?! Besides, he's dating a chick also..." "...There is someone..." Zoe ventured. "Who?" Jay asked, her voice betraying her anticipation. "Well... It's our cousin, Krieg Spinne--" "EWWWW!!! You want me to date our cousin?!" Jay wretched in disgust. "No!" Zoe also wretched, "No. He has a half-brother on his mother's side. Completely unrelated to us. The only thing he has in common with us is his mom WAS married to our mother's cousin. That's all. He's clean, genetically."

Jay thought about it. "His last name?" "Dresacuul." Zoe said. "What the hell?! What kind of last name is that?!" Jay asked in disbelief. "He's, well, Transylvanian or some other Eastern European country." Zoe said. "Seriously? That woman must have had a taste for obscure, European dic--" Jay began. "JAY!" Zoe said, astonished. "What? I was just gonna say dick!" Jay explained. Zoe cradled her face in her hands, embarassed. Frida laughed. "Woooo... You do spend time with your cousins, don't you?" she asked. "Mostly Dragonfly on account we both work at the same salon here." Jay replied. "What country is he from, again?" Zoe asked. "America." "Of course..." Zoe mumbled. Only Americans could be so vulgar. ( ;D -- Wink from the author, Nitocolus).

Django twiddled with his thumbs. He had made Francisco, his longtime friend and the only kind undead being he knew, his best man, and made Manny, Krieg, Zoot, and Dragonfly stand next to him as well. "Dude, just relax!" Manny recomended. "I'm having cold feet, even for a dead guy!" Django said, nervous. "Just focus on something else." Dragonfly offered, returning to stare at a mutated large cockroach he and his cousins had stolen. "Well excuse me for not being able to be distracted by an oversized pest." Django said.

"Hey! The cockroach is the symbol of evolutionary success!" Zoot said. "Yeah, and you've got millions alive up here! We've got trillions of undead ones down there!" Django said, showing his irritation. "See? Now you're distracted!" Zoot pointed out. "From what?" Django asked, "Oh God!!! I'm getting married!!!!" Django suddenly remembered. "Well, that worked for a little bit..." Manny said, rubbing his chin. Django returned to rubbing the temples of his skull. Zoot, Krieg, and Dragonfly were arguing over which kind of suit he should wear to the wedding. "A militant uniform! Decorative and can be made to look evil!" Krieg argued. "A Zoot suit! It's stylish, extravagent, shows wealth, and has Latino heritage written all over it!" Zoot argued. "No! Classic tuxedo is the way to go! It's great for weddings!" Dragonfly told both of them. "That's so cliche!" "So's a military uniform!"

Manny sighed, turning to them. "Why not just combine the three into one suit?" he offered. "Please! That would never work!" Krieg spat, then turned to his brothers, "Would it?" he asked. "Well... A tuxedo shirt and bow, plus a militant coat tailored in a zoot style topped of with Django's black/dark red/yellow colour scheme..." Zoot reckoned. "It could work, and we could pull it off." Dragonfly said. "Well, what will he wear as a hat?" Zoot asked. Manny coughed and pointed at Django's famed cowboy hat. "Oh yeah... We also have to add a touch of undead to it. Let's have the whole thing be light, instead of dress shoes or combat boots we'll give him cowboy boots, and the entire thing will have to be kind of torn." Krieg ordered. "Let's top it off with a ragged, dark cape." Dragonfly suggested. "Perfect. Let's get to work!" Krieg said, and the cousins set off.

"Yeesh, I'm glad they ain't my cousins..." Manny said. He turned to Django. "So... you have a ring bearer yet?" Django blinked. He had forgotten about that. Django stood up, his bones tensing.

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!" he screamed.

"Anyway, you think of a flower girl yet?" Frida asked. Zoe blinked. Zoe stood up as her muscles tensed. "SHIT!" she cried out loud, startling her sister and Frida. "Ugh! Maybe my half-sister could... No, I haven't seen my father in ages!" Zoe complained. "Wait, I thought your father was someone who slept with your mother and left?" Frida asked. "Yeah! I thought that too, than I remembered meeting him once, so I kept badgering mom. My father is--"

**DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!! Don't you hate when they say**

**"TO BE CONTINUED"**

**?**


	13. Roadtrip to Cuba with a Twist

"My father was a supervillian my mother met in Argentina named the Crimson Gaucho. I believe he was a member of the Communist regime there during the day, supervillian by night. My mom denies knowing him." Zoe explained. Jay was shocked. "So who's my father?!" she asked. "I don't know, probably some other Spanish guy that wears boots." Zoe shrugged. Jay put her head on the desk next to her, but quickly raised it again. "Wait, I have another sister?" she asked. "No, she's completely unrelated to you. Her name's like, Ricca or something weird..." Zoe said.

"Is she a supervillian also?" Frida asked. "No! She's only like three! I remember because it's been three years since I last saw my father, when his daughter was born. Hardly remembered that day. Glad I did though, it's so nice to know who my father is." "Ahem..." Jay coughed. "Heheh... Sorry." Zoe said. Frida rubbed her chin. "I might be able to find your father for you..." she said. Jay looked up. "What?" "Yeah, I can use my dad's DNA tracking system. If your DNA matches up with any of the supervillians that have ever been caught or even a DNA sequence has been found in Miracle City, we'd be able to find the DNA sequence that is closest to yours... It's a long shot, but we can probably find your father." Frida said. Jay almost dried, but held the tears back and hugged frida. Frida felt uncomfortable that she mentioned it. She'd have one of her father's friends, a DNA specialist, to help if the machine idea failed.

"Well, we'll need to find a flower girl, so you know what we'll have to do now, right?" Zoe asked. "Road trip to Argentina?" Frida shrugged. "No, he was exiled to Cuba for being a Communist." Zoe answered. "Whoa, seriously?" Frida asked, surprised she was correct about the road trip. "Let's get going." Jay said with little enthusiasm.

"La bienvenida a Cuba!" a man in a olive militant uniform with a cigar in his mouth called down to the trio of girls walking into the embassy. "Do you know his real name, or just his supervillian name?" Frida asked. Zoe blinked. She didn't. "No, but I have an idea how to find him." Zoe said, rubbing her hands together and chuckling. Jay saw the spark in her eye and began to join in. Frida had no clue what was going on and joined in nervously.

The large, armoured van that was carrying priceless jewels to a local treasury continued its course in a normal, pleasant stride. One of the guards pulled his balaclava down and produced a cigarette. The other glared at him. "No smoking in the van!" he whisper-hollered. "Eh, who'd know? The whole van already smells like smoke!" the other replied, lighting the cigarette. He suddenly lurched forward as the van stopped. "Seriously? You're going to stop because I'm smoking?" he asked in disbelief.

The driver was putting all his pressure on the gas. "I don't get it! What's going on?!" he asked in disbelief. The guard looked out of his window to see the van was now floating three hundred feet over the buildings. He quickly pulled his head back in and told the driver to look out the window. He gasped. "How is this happening?!" he asked. As if in answer, a shadow loomed in front of them. It looked like a large raven with piercing purple eyes. The driver shivered and the guard's cigarette dropped fom his gaping mouth.

A fist managed to bust through the bulletproof windshield and rip the startled guard from the passenger seat. The guard yelped, seeing the teenage girl's face behind her purple-tinted visor. The guard cried, astonished. "Who were you expecting to rob you?!" Zoe asked the startled guard. "The Crimson Banditos! They always manage to steal our caravans!" the guard explained. "_Crimson_ Banditos?! Who's their leader?!" Zoe asked, shaking the guard violently. "The... the... The Crimson Gaucho!" the guard cried out. "Where can I find him?!" Zoe pressed, preparing to throw the guard off of the floating van. "I don't know!!!! That's all I know!" the guard sobbed.

Zoe tossed him back into his seat. Her jetpack sputtered and left a trail of black smoke as she flew off. The van began to drop. The adreneline built up in the screaming guards until it hit the ground, surprisingly gently. They were surprised as they saw what appeared to be two large birds fly off in a similar style as the girl who had been interogating them. The guards were still tremgling as the police came to ask them what had happened. No jewels had been stolen...

"Well, that was a waste." Frida said, removing the red-tinged, eagle-winged jetpack Zoe loaned her. "Not really." Zoe replied, producing the small book she had swiped off of the guard. "He was telling the truth about not knowing my father, because he never read this book." she explained. "Hey, that's one of the criminal identification books my dad uses!" Frida exclaimed. "Yes, and now we have more than enough information on him to trap him!" Zoe said. Jay smiled. Her sister was smart to grab that pamphlet.

"Says here he's got a thing for nightclubs, though the cops have never successfully caught him at one, either because of his elusiveness or because he bribed them off." Jay read off of the pamphlet. "Well, it also says he's a womanizer..." Frida read, "Heh, maybe one of us could flirt with him and seduce him, hahahahaha!" she added as a joke. Jay and Zoe looked at eachother and then at Frida. "What, seriously?" she asked.

The Crimson Banditos paid off the manager of the nightclub so he wouldn't call the police and have them ruin their fun. Crimson Gaucho, wearing his red shirt, black pants and black chaps with red and yellow tassles protruding off of the legs, black boots, black vest, and a red Argentine sombrero, sat down in one of the chairs enjoying some Columbian opium his Banditos had smuggled. All his Banditos wore red shirts, black pants, black boots, and red sombreros similar to his. They were dancing, flirting, enjoying opium, or drinking at the bar.

Suddenly, two of his Banditos arrived with a beautiful blue-haired girl between them. She was tanned, wearing a wonderful red dress and red heels, topped off with a rose decorating her hair. "This girl wanted to talk to you boss." the first Bandito said. "Says she'd like a word with you, _out back_." the second said. The two Banditos chuckled. Gaucho smiled. Today was his lucky day. He stood up. "Very well. Let's get going, chica." Gaucho said, grabbing Frida by the waist. In an instant he had nimbly and expertly escaped the room and disappeared out of the nightclub and into the back alley.

"Now chica, would you prefer the romantic night out or to just get started here and now?" he asked as he turned around to meet her in the light of the back alley. He gasped, as if seeing a ghost. There before him stood what appeared to be his ex-girlfriend, and another of her. Except these two wore purple and blue... Purple?!

Gaucho smiled. "Zoe! Darling! How nice it is to see you aga--" he was cut of by a right hook, sending him into the trash cans beside the door. "I probably deserved that for not talking to you often." he said, chuckling as he wiped the blood from his nose. "Hello papi!" Zoe called cheerfully, breaking the previous tension. "Hello! So, this is a friend of yours used to get me into a trap? I'll have to remember that in case the police ever try that..." Gaucho said, getting up.

"Papi, I need to know if, well... There are two things I'd like you to do..." Zoe said. "Oh, anything darling!" Gaucho said. "Well... I'm getting married soon and I was wondering if you'd walk me down the aisle?" Zoe asked. Gaucho smiled, his black mustache twitching with his upper lip. "Of course I will! What kind of father would I be if I didn't?" he asked. Zoe chose not to answer that. "Well, I have another favor as well." Zoe said. "Anything!" Gaucho said, dusting off his red/black reversable cape-poncho. "Can your daughter, my half-sister, be the flower girl?" Zoe asked. Gaucho was surprised by the question. "Little Riza? Well, I suppose so, she can walk very well for her age." Gaucho bragged, proud of his daughters.

"Great!" Zoe cheered. Gaucho looked at Frida, smiled, then at Jay, his mouth twisting into a frown. "Zoey, who is she?" Gaucho asked, pointing at Jay. "My sister, Jay Aves, also known as the Blue Jay!" Zoe said, introducing her sister. "Strange... She does not have your mother's eyes... Come to think of it, she has someone elses eyes... Someone I know but can't quite remember..." Gaucho murmered, rubbing his chin. "I remember now, it was--"

**You guys must really hate how I keep doing this, lol.**

**NOTES: Jay Aves/Blue Jay and Crimson Gaucho were both supposed to be canon characters if the series continued, which it didn't Jay is the youngest of the Flock of Fury, and I assumed her colour scheme was blue. She and Zoe always seemed nice to eachother on the outside, but as Black Cuervo and Blue Jay, they fought over Manny with their lasers... So says the wikia!**

** As for Crimson Gaucho, I haven't a clue what he looks like! All I learned was he's supposed to be Zoe's father and that Voltura left him and took Zoe when she was a baby, and that he's a supervillian. Again, I assumed what he acted like, his appearance, and his past/what he does.**

**Thank you for reading, please review, all criticism (positive and negative) welcomed.**


	14. The Wedding!

Django looked through his family albums. There were no little boys, he was the youngest of his family by at least twenty years. Three centuries if you didn't count his dad or uncle. He needed to look outside the family, someone younger than any of his friends.

The door bell rang and General Chapuza answered it. "Django of the Dead and El Tigre!" he shouted, preparing to call his zombies. "What, you come to rob me?" he asked, getting ready to give the signal. "No, no! We're here to talk to Che and his little brother." Django said. "Che doesn't have a little brother." Chapuza replied. "Could you make one? Young enough to, I don't know, be a ring bearer at a human/undead wedding?" Manny asked, grinning to hide the wedding. Chapuza looked at Manny, then at Django (also grinning nervously) and then back at Manny.

"CHE! Get in here with your little brother!!!" Chapuza yelled into the house. "I don't have a little brother, grandfather!" Che yelled back. "Well, make one then! You know where the zombie parts are!" A few moments later, Che walked in, his copy-belt of Manny's around his waist. Next to him was a small zombie with black hair and yellow/red eyes, same as his brother and grandfather. His skin was a pale blue as well. His hair was more kempt than Che's. "Hello El Tigre." Che said, preparing to spin his belt buckle, Manny entered the same stance. "Manny, remember why we're here." Django warned.

"So, why do you need my youngest grandson?" Chapuza asked. "We need him to be the ring bearer at my wedding." Django explained. "You! Married?! Ha! To who?" Chapuza asked. "Zoey Aves." Django said, remembering not to give away her secret identity. "The goth chick we went to school with?!" Che asked, surprised. "YOU went to our school also?" Manny asked in disbelief, "Was I the only one who didn't see this?" Everyone in the room nodded, including Che's brother.

"Fine, you can borrow Chuck." Che said. "Chuck?!" Chapuza asked in disbelief. "Yes, Chuck. I built him, I name him!" Che argued. "Fine, but, geeze, such a repulsive name..." Chapuza said. Chuck glared at Chapuza. "Hello, my name is Charles Chapuza, but you can call me Chuck." Chuck said happily. Suddenly his muscles bulged as his eyes went completely red. "MORTALS WILL SUFFER!!!!" he reverted back to normal. Che and Chapuza blinked. "Hmmmm... I don't understand how that happened! I must have thrown something else in him...." Che wondered as he walked around Chuck. "Oh well, he should be fine for the wedding... Are we invited?" Chapuza asked.

Django sighed. Fine, but you have to RSVP by tonight! Got it?" Django asked. "Got it! I will find a suit for my grandson and I will try to keep his, um... whatever he did, under control." Chapuza promised. Django looked at Manny. "Now let's meet up with the girls again. Zoey and I are adding the finishing touches on the wedding." he said. "Yeesh, the wedding's next week... You didn't put this thing together well, did you?" Manny asked. "Shut up and drive us back to the hotel." Django scowled.

Zoey gaped in disbelief. Jay was stunned into silence. Frida had passed out. "Seriously?!" Zoe finally asked her father. "Yep, that's who her father is. She's looks so much like him. She's got a lot of her mother in there too." Gaucho said. With that, Zoe looked at her father to search for what she got from him. His albinism was obvious, but that was about it. Her cheeks did seem a bit like his. "I'm sure that's her father, anyway. No one else quite has that look." Gaucho confirmed.

"Seriously?!" Zoe asked again. "Yes, I left your mom and she ran off to be with my brother." "You told us she left you just a second ago." Jay interupted. "AS IF I COULD FORGET!!!!" Gaucho shouted, falling to his knees, crying. "So, who's your brother?" Frida asked, getting up off the ground. "Sniff.... The Midnight Gaucho... Like me, only wears purple... and I hear he looks better... The ass..." Gaucho said, getting up off his knees.

"So... You (red) and Vultura (green) equals Zoe (black), because of the primary colors..." Frida pointed out. "Yeah, if you want to put it that way..." Gaucho sighed. "So, Vultura (green) and Midnight Gaucho (purple) both have blue, so blue would be the dominant color!" Frida continued. "Frida, darling, I don't think colors used on battlesuits and costumes are inherited." Zoe said. "Shhhhh! I'm onto something here!" Frida said. "Your child, a demigod, you said? Well, his dominant color would be.... Black! Because you (Black Cuervo) and Django of the Dead (wearing black with red) both have black as your dominant color!" Frida finished. Zoe stared in disbelief. "Of course our child's main color would be black! My entire family wears black with a coloured trim!" Zoe shouted. "Yeesh! You don't have to yell!" Frida said.

"Wait! You're marrying Django of the Dead?! Son of Son of Sartana, and Grandson of Sartana?!" Gaucho asked his daughter. "Did I forget to mention that?" Zoe asked. "I will not allow that spawn of a swindler to marry my daughter!" Gaucho declared, "This, I swear!!!!"

3 WEEKS LATER

Avez Residence, Wedding of Django of the Dead and future Zoey Carmelita Avez-of the Dead

"This I swear... That never works, you know." Jay told Gaucho as she readied the way for Zoe to be walked down the aisle. Frida had made several different variants on a single dress option in case Zoe began to show more during the wedding. She did, but not by much. Zoe was worried. It had been nearly four months and her child was barely noticeable. When her father had found out she was impregnated, he was furious, but died down and began to look forward to being a grandfather.

Riza and Chuck walked down the aisle, Riza throwing dead flower petals and Chuck looking adorable before demonically sputtering some offense. Vultura and Lady Gobbler were crying tears of joy, though a little exagerated. Manny's family was sitting near the back, surrounded by the glaring supervillians that had been invited. Frida's family was nearby, also being glared at by supervillians. Django's family sat in their own undead throne they had moved out of the earth, save for Francisco who had to sit with the Banditos.

Django was freaking out. They had decided to wear their costumes, only more decorative and evil, more majestic. Django wore a militant-styled suit coat, zoot suit pants with cowboy boots, a long, flowing cape, fingerless gloves, and his hat. Amazingly, thanks mostly to the tattered appearance and his being dead, he looked great! Zoe wore her battlesuit, only with more of a dress-like flare to it and the visor could flash back to allow a kiss. Her hair was done in the fashion her sister had done three weeks earlier. She wore black high heels and the corssage Django made ahile ago.

Django was terrified as he stood up there. And then she walked in. Beautiful, simply beautiful. Django was gaping at her in awe by the time she arrived to the altar. He was so hypnotized by her beauty and grace that he barely heard the priest they hired (amazingly...) say, "....take Zoey Avez to be your loftly wedded wife?" Django blinked. "wha... Oh! Yes, I do." he said, eager. Zoe giggled at his disorientation. "And do you, Zoey Avez, take Django of the Dead to be your husband?" the priest asked. "I do." she said. "Then by the power invested in me, I declare you husband and wife, you may now kiss the bride."

Zoe and Django wasted no time on it. As soon as they finished, Zoe activated her jetpack and dragged Django with her into the heavens, leaving the crowd gagging from the black fumes of her jetpack. Gaucho looked around. "That's... that's it? The whole thing only took like, thirty minutes?!" Gaucho asked no one in particular. "Gaucho, have you ever been to a supervillian wedding?" Krieg asked, wipping the soot from his militant costume. "No..." Gaucho admitted. "They're notoriously short for some reason I don't fully understand..." Krieg explained.

Gaucho felt it didn't matter and spotted Vultura, who was glaring at Maria and Rodolfo Rivera. "Vultura, darling! A long time and no see, wouldn't you say?" Gaucho asked, trying his best to make conversation. "Oh... Hello Gaucho..." Vultura sighed. "Hello?! That's all you have to say after the betrayal you performed?! I was heartbroken for weeks!" Gaucho shouted quietly, trying not to bring any attention their way. Gaucho steadied his anger. Then he grinned at Vultura, putting his most romantic stare on her that simply shouted how beautiful she was too her. The trick was he stared her in the eyes, even though she was turned around.

Vultura felt the stare and blushed. There was always something about Gaucho she loved. Truth be told, she only left him in fear that he would leave her first. She became so possessed by the idea she had slept with his brother as a bit of revenge as well. Now she felt like she had been wrong all these years, and seeing Zoe get married (the first Avez to be married in over three generations) she felt love could happen. Gaucho felt it was time to make his move. "Vultura, how would you like to go on a date this Friday? A romantic one, with a chance of chaos thrown in?" Gaucho asked. Vultura grinned, remembering Gaucho's surprising charm under the rough surface. "Well, I suppose I should make it up to you after the last time we went our seperate ways." Vultura said, hiding her eagerness, "Ok. But you will pick me up at seven o'clock, sharp!" she growled. Gaucho nodded, a large smile on his face as he walked away.

"Just breath, that's it, brea--" Django tried to calm his wife, only to have her begin to choke him with her claw-like-fingered hands. "YOU TRY TO BREATH!!!!" Zoe yelled, choking harder. Django was glad he was undead and this only caused him minimal pain.

The undead doctor in the underworld hospital had taken over and Django was asked to stay outside for the majority of the procedure. He was finally asked to come in and he helped with the final delivery of the child.

"It's over, Zoe. Our beautiful baby has been born." Django said, holding back his excitement that Zoe was still alive. Zoe sighed. She looked at Django. "I could have died from that, couldn't I have?" Zoe asked. Django began to sweat. "Heh... well... yeah." he said weakly. Zoe chuckled a little. "I don't care anymore. I have a child and a man who won't run off..." she said. Django smiled.

Later, when Zoe was recovering in her medical bed with Django by her side, the doctor walked in. "Mr. and Mrs. of the Dead, congratulations on your baby boy!" he said, adding little enthusiasm. Django and Zoe blinked. "Boy?!" Zoe asked in surprise, the first one ever in the lineage of the Avez. "Isn't he supposed to be an exact clone of the mother basically?" Django asked, remembering how Sartana described live undead-human births. "Normally, yes. But this is the single rarest birth in all of eternity! I've never seen anything like it." the doctor explained, "Now what shall you name it?" he asked.

Zoe thought it over with Django for a few minutes. She was expecting to name it after their female relatives, but couldn't think of a name for a male. "How about your father's name?" Django asked. "Zachary? I do like the sound of it... But what else? Zachary of the Dead is a little... well, bland." Zoe said. Django thought, bringing up the relatives he and Zoe most admired from their new family bond. "Zachary Django Francisco Jay Avez-of the Dead." making sure to add her father's name, her sister's name, his name, and his uncle's name, and both of their last names. Zoe smiled. It was a long, beautiful name that she felt fit the little child she held in her arms quite well. She nodded.

"Zachary-whatever-the-rest-of-it-was, got it. Oh, before I forget: we did come across some dead genes, which is to be expected. Fortunately, they're only in some of his hair cells. Not to the point of hair loss, but they are grey..." the doctor warned. Django and Zoe barely heard him as they stared admiringly at the little child in their arms.

**NOTES: Zachary Avez and Chuck are both original in the sense that they are not canon characters. Same with Samantha Rivera.**


	15. Part III: And So History Repeats

It was a great year for Django and Zoe's families, and for Manny and Frida's families. Little Zachary Django Francisco Jay Avez-of the Dead was born, and Zoe was healthy. She had only a fraction of a percentage of a chance to survive the demigod birth and be healthy. Django would later say she was too tough to die.

As for Zachary, the rarity of his birth continued. The first male born into the Avez family, ever! His mother survived the birth (rare!) and he was born a he!!! Super rare! You see, the birth of an undead during the life of its human mother is rare. The mother survives, it is even more rare. The child only inherits the powers of the undead from the father (as an undead father must impregnate a living woman for their to be a live birth of an undead) and not the genes. Therefore, the child is an exact clone of the mother, save for the undead powers. This is why Zachary, a MALE with demigod-like powers and his mother surviving the birth, and healthy, is the first heard of in forever.

Zachary was born only a few months after Samantha (Manny and Frida's). Much to their family's surprise, this means they would end up in school together.

It was also a good year because of Rodolfo Rivera's retiring as a hero and leaving it to his son to do the right thing. Thanks to him finally giving up the hero-ing, his ex-wife Maria agreed to take him back and the two were engaged. As for Zoe's parents, they became romantically involved and were already married (rather quickly...) and Zoe now had a third sister, little Anna. Jay began to see more of Che and the two seemed to have a succesful crime partner relationship, maybe even more...

TWELVE YEARS LATER

The school bell rang and it was time to go back to class. Zachary stayed in the back, wearing a dark-grey military tunic he inherited from a distant cousin, turning brown from fading. His hair was just a little over short, black, a few bleak, grey hairs here and there. Other than his tunic, everything else was black and had excesses of silver on it; piercings, studs on armbands and belts, etc.

He was staring at the most popular girl in school, Samantha Rivera. He knew her secret. She came from a family of superheroes and supervillians. That wasn't the secret, but she did keep her identity secret. She was actually a supervillian. Her family had a pattern: undecided, villian, hero, villian, hero, villian, hero, undecided. She was the daughter of Manny Rivera, the undecided on-again-off-again hero/villian, El Tigre. Following the pattern (even though she had broken the family pattern by being born a daughter anyway), she followed in her great-grandfather's footsteps, and became a villian.

She protected the secret amazingly well. As for Zachary, he did the same. It was funny, because both families had hated eachother for the longest time and still had tensions. Now, the families were more at ease, and yet, Manny didn't share the fact that Zachary came from the infamous Flock of Fury (now consisting of his mother, his father, his aunt, his uncle (who oddly used a zombie-copy of El Tigre's belt), his grandmother, his grandfather (the only non-bird themed villian in the group besides his uncle, his father, and himself), and the Family of the Dead, which consisted of himself, his mother, his father, his grandfather, his great-uncle, and his great-grandmother, plus a legion of undead banditos. Also, a similar fact, no one had figured out Samantha was a villian, not until Zachary had discovered just a week earlier...

ONE WEEK EARLIER

**You confused yet?**

The infamous Silver Phoenix fired up his jetpack. It started up with the familiar motorcycle sputtering and the black plume of smoke as he left the crime scene. The wings of the jetpack were large and spread out, huge like an eagle's or a falcon's. Silver Phoenix, known as Zachary Avez during the day, wore the standard outfit of his mother's crime syndicate, the Flock of Fury. All black, save for distinct trim on the helmet and cloth uniform. His was grey, to match the grey hair mixed in with his black hair.

He flew a few miles before landing in an alley. He snickered as he removed the crystal penguin from the crate he swiped. "Mom's gonna be so proud." he said, chuckling. He then saw a looming shape in the distance. Some kind of robot piloted by a figure he couldn't make out. It stood twice as tall as a man, and looked like a high-tech Gundam, only smaller. Zachary squinted as much as he could, but couldn't make out the pilot. He cursed, and then remembered what his father had showed him.

Concentrating, his eyes began to burn, turning glowering red. They pierced through the shading as if they were lava and he made out the shape of a familiar young girl. The most popular girl at school, Samantha Frida O'Brien Maria Suarez-Rivera. Zachary gasped. Then he smiled, finding a way he could blackmail her. But then, he became hypnotized by her eloquent movements of destruction and robbery. So graceful and yet so cold and harsh, and yet so warm and spiteful. He followed her around in secret. The sight of her destroying and stealing with ease got under his skin, eating away at him.

"No! My mother told me to watch out for those Rivera men... and women... She always told me how cruel they were! Even if they are our friends now..." Zachary said to himself. He looked back at her. "And my father always said the Suarez women would date a thousand men before settling down with one..." he began to finalize. One more glance back. She had just melted the ice cream parlor with napalm, and Zachary was smitten. "Then again... she does have that certain something..." he said, smiling behind his grey visor.

Now Zachary grinned. There was going to be a huge shipment of diamonds to the Miracle City Jewelers, and he had a feeling she'd be there. It was his chance to make his move, becoming what his parents and his aunt and uncle called 'crime partners'. The bell rang, signifying the end of the school. Samantha cheered loudly, then apologized, realizing she had been too loud. Zachary smiled. His mother told him about how her mother used to do that in middle school and high school alot.

Zachary knew when and where she'd strike, he even saw the evil grin on her face. It was so short that most would miss it, but not Zachary. He had been trained by the greatest experts on espionage, military, undead powers, mystical items, and technology. Out of all of that, it was reading people that proved most useful in protecting his identity and finding secrets out about people.

He was happy until he saw two of his cousins come to pick him up. He sighed. They were great people, but depressing. "Good afternoon, Zachary." his well-dressed cousin said. His name was Draco Fillts, though everyone called him by his old villian name, Dragonfly. Next to him was his seasoned cousin, who continued his villian career, the one they called Zoot. He dressed in a very well-maintained zoot suit and carried vials of chemicals, acids, and poisons, poison-tipped knives, and toxic-darts. Zachary admired him and saw him as an idol.

Finally, the cousin that wasn't there. Krieg Spinne, a spider-themed villian that always dressed like an SS officer (save for the offensive symbolism) and used a specialized pack with metal limbs to fight, steal, and escape. He gave up his life of crime and returned to Germany to serve in the military. He now lived with his family, a crippled man who only sat around the house complaining about his useless legs and his missing arm. He was drunk half the time and served as an even more depressing substitute for the drop-out that was Dragonfly. Zoot seemed the only one with anymore positive energy out of the three.

Zachary sighed. His cousins were great and gave him training and tips, but occasionally they got sidetracked with their problems. He got into the lowrider they were in. It was crappy and unkempt in appearance, though under the hood it was the fastest thing in Miracle City. After a few minutes of driving, Dragonfly finally spoke. "So, your mother says you've been pulling off a lot of heists on your own lately. I take it you don't want a family heist tonight?" he asked. "Nope, I have a plan for tonight." Zachary replied. "What?" Zoot asked, interested. "It's a secret, but it involves gems. I'll get you guys some if you want." Zachary offered. "Ah, how nice." Zoot and Dragonfly joked.

LATER THAT NIGHT

General Chapuza, the Crimson Gaucho, Comrade Chaos, and the Crimson Commissar were all assembled in the lounging room of a Soviet-esque building in the broken district of Miracle City. They were sitting next to the fireplace, each with a shotglass of Russian vodka. above the mantle of the fireplace was a large majestic portrait of Vladimir Lenin, founder of the USSR. The quartet raised their glasses once and took two drinks, mimicking a quote Lenin made once.

Vultura walked in. "Gaucho, I know Thursday nights are, well, 'Soviet-Villian-Reunion-Nights', but it's getting late." she said. Gaucho looked at the clock. "I suppose you're right. This is the one night of the week where we don't do anything bad, but remember the good we all almost did." he commented.

And it was true. Gaucho had been a succesful party member for Argentine before he got fed up with the disputes and the arguing. He felt like raising hell and he became a villian. Comrade Chaos, well, he just loved chaos and wanted to spread it throughout the American country. He landed short of his destination and decided to aide in the southern expansion of Soviet Communism, or at least spread more chaos for fun. Chapuza was a great military leader for one of the Southern American parties, but was turned into a zombie by a Soviet experiment gone wrong. He swore vengeance on humanity in general. Finally, there was the Crimson Commissar, a former Spetsnaz operative that became an officer. He agreed full-heartedly with the ideals of Communism and loved Russia to pieces, but pent-up trauma caused him to begin to abuse his power and training, so to prevent himself from bringing the reputation of the USSR down even more, he left to be a hero. After it fell, he became enraged and turned villian.

Now all of them gathered in one of the few nice rooms in the entire broke district of Miracle City every Thursday to remember what they used to be good for. As soon as they left they had to 'get back in the mood again' by stealing something. Now Vultura was wanting to steal something before they ran out of night. She heard that her grandson (how she loathed being old enough to have a grandson, but she loved him to pieces) was going to try to start a partnership with the mysterious supervillian, Gato Misteriosa. Vultura had to admit that the mechanised villian had moves and style, and maybe even flare, but there was something familiar about the movements. She wanted to steal something out of the way of the diamonds to avoid ruining the partnership.

Finally the villians cleared out, except for Gaucho who stood next to his wife, smiling. "Why are you smiling?" she asked. "Well, maybe instead of wreaking havoc tonight, we can just have a romantic dinner." Gaucho said, suggestively. Vultura grinned slyly and decided a night at home would be better.

"Красная!" the deranged Crimson Commissar let out as he passed out from a large, bloodied punch. He had been trying to 'get back in the mood' by hijacking diamonds. He was badly beaten by the mechanised Gato Misteriosa. He commented on how beautiful the final punch had been before he lost consciousness. Samantha laughed a little at the fact she had just beaten a man who used to be a hero for years and then a villian for years. She had beaten a veteran fighter and someone trained to be one of the greatest fighters ever.

From up above, Zachary smiled a bit and agreed with the unconcious Commissar that it had been a beautiful punch. Not for the elequence and the precision, but more. Zachary was thinking of the girl piloting the mechanised suit. He pulled his small, black guitar with silvered strings from the loop on his jetpack and gracefully floated down near Samantha. He began to strum a song, an old love tune his father tought him. Maddy turned her mecha to face him, revealing several buzzblades and miniguns.

Zachary used his enhanced, demonic vision to see through the mecha. He noticed her mecha was attached to a small pack she wore on her back, which confirmed that she had gotten it from a clsoe family friend of both the Avez and the Riveras; one of his three cousins. Zachary's grin grew even wider as he walked closer. "What do you want, puny fool?!" a dark, metallic voice called from the machine. "Cut the crap, Samantha, I have x-ray vision. I know it's you." Zachary said, still grinning.

The robot froze. "N-No it's not!" the machine continued. "Yes it is." "No." "Yes." "No!" "Yep." "Well... Well... Damn!" the robot yelled, then it prepared to incinerate Zachary. "Whoa! I'm not going to reveal this to anyone, IF you become my crime partner." Zachary said quickly. The machine stopped as Samantha balanced her distrust of him and the value of his skills and keeping quiet. The guns quit rotating. "Very well. But to form a useful bond, I must know your name." she demanded more than asked.

"I am Zachary Avez. We go to school together and our familes are... friends. Your father was a best man at my father's wedding." Zachary explained. Samantha looked him over, memory returning to her. "Yes, I remember you now. You stare at me in math." the robot said. Zachary began to sweat. "Well, I can explain tha--" "No matter! We are crime partners and we'll split our loot 50/50. Oh, and don't tell my dad my identity." Samantha said in a threatening tone. Zachary nodded.

Samantha began to leave, but she turned towards Zachary. She hated his guts, seeing him as a snivelling wimp who used dirty tricks. She had to admit, she loved the guy's dirty-underhanded-blackmailing ways, his eerie charms, and his mysterious abilities. But she still hated him. This she swore.

Zachary had brought diamonds to all his family. Krieg, who was having a much better outlook on life as of late, now had a diamond skull pin he wore on the collar of his stormcoat. He got his mom and cousins diamond rings and brass knuckles seperately. Diamond necklaces for his other relatives. He gave another skull pin to his father and his Uncle Che.

Later, he joined his mother's side of the family in combat training with high-tech weaponry, all bird-themed. Afterwards, he joined his uncle and father for lessons in undead combat. The Son of Sartana and White Pantera watched from a distance. "I was tailing your granddaughter. Does Manuel know what his daughter's up too at night?" Son of Sartana asked. Pantera thought for a moment. "Perhaps. Manny's parenting techniques are... unique." he commented. "My grandson's begun a crime partnership with her. I hope that their relationship doesn't go much further past a friendship." Son of Sartana said. Pantera nodded, knowing of the secret they kept from their children. "Genetically-speaking, it would be safe, but morally-speaking..." Son of Sartana began, but Pantera glared at him. "Please! Cease this discussion about our grandchildren! They are only thirteen!" he demanded. "My apologies. I forgot myself for a moment there." Son of Sartana apologized.

The two returned their attention to the ever-powerful Zachary who was excelling at his training.


	16. Oh ! And They Kissed Too

And so the two formed a bond, even though Samantha swore she wouldn't fall for Zachary. As Jay Avez once stated, 'This I swear!' never works. Eventually, well, see for yourself:

Zachary sat on the rooftops, his helmet off to enjoy the breeze and to allow himself to eat the burger he had stolen. He was now 17, his partnership with the young Samantha Rivera entering its fourth year. He had had a crush on her since he first layed eyes on her, but now that crush had grown into something more than a silly thing like that. The four years spent with Samantha had softened her up, too. She fell for him as well, but her pride would never admit it, seeing it as a weakness to be in love. That and she feared rejection.

Zachary turned to look at her, seeing her beautiful tanned face, her punk-rock wear, sitting on the roof next to him, wearing her pack that could turn into a mechanised battlesuit instantly. She was enjoying a churro. Zachary couldn't figure why, but she really loved those things. Zachary and Samantha had been passing glances while the other was not looking all through their meal. Finally, both accidently looked at the same exact time, causing both of them to look away, blushing.

_Sigh... Why can't I just ask her out, already? Rejection at this point can't ruin our friendship, can it? I mean, we've been friends for four years, one question can't ruin it..._ Zachary argued with himself. _Why doesn't he ask me out? Not that I care! I'd reject him if he did! Love is a weakness. I think..._ Samantha thought. "Zachary..." "Samantha..." the two spoke at the same time, causing them to shrink back in embarassment. "What?" "What?" again, in unison. "You first." Zachary said. "No, you." Samantha ordered.

Zachary took a deep breath. "Samantha,we'vebeenfriendsfornearlyfiveyearsandhaveknoweachotherevenlonger,andI'vebeguntothinkofyouassomethingmorethanafriendduetoallthetimewe'vespenttogether,andIhopedyoudon'tthinkittoobrashofme,butifyou'renotbusySaturdaynightIwaswonderingifyou'dliketohangoutandseeamovieorsomething,youknow,withoutcausingascene,or--" Samantha cut him off. "Zachary! Easy! What are you asking?" Zachary looked at the ground, and then in her eyes. He grabbed her wrists gently, as if he would pass out and would need someone to keep him from falling.

"Samantha, would you like to hang out Saturday as... um... something more than crime partners? Maybe see a movie or..." before he could finish, Maddy had stared into his eyes, drowned in the sea that was his voice, and was already spewing the answer in her head thousands of times over before he even finished the question. Without really thinking, she cut him off. "Kiss me, you fool!" she shouted. "...play some vi-- Wait, wha--" he was than dragged into a liplock, that soon turned into a bit of a tongue-wrestle. When they had finished the seemingly-long kiss (in actuallity, only a mere four seconds), they were both shocked and stunned.

Samantha quickly turned away, cursing herself. "I'm sorry, I don't what came over me..." she said, her throat begining to feel swollen as though she were going to cry soon. Zachary was still stunned. Samantha was already unintentionally rubbing her eyes as Zachary gently grabbed he chin and pulled her in for another kiss. This one was more pasionate than the last. "So we have a date, Saturday?" Zachary asked, trying to act cool and pulling it off. "Only if Sunday we can rob the Church of its donations." Samantha said with a wicked smile. Zachary grinned. "Your vile brand of evil is soooooo hot!" and the two kissed again.

A few blocks away, White Pantera and Son of Sartana were watching in horror. "Ugh! We need to tell them soon, Holiday!" Pantera said. Son of Sartana glared at him. "What did I tell you about calling me that, Rodolfo?" he asked. "Sorry." Pantera apologized. 'Holiday' looked back at the duo as they seperated. "Again, genetically it's safe, and not worth mentioning." he said. "But morally, it is wrong, disgusting, atrocious!" Pantera accused. "Perhaps, but they're villians. I hardly doubt they care about morals." Holiday said. "Maybe not, but what if you were dating your cousin? What would your reaction be?" Pantera asked. Holiday thought about it. "You make it sound so... Disturbing." Holiday shuddered. "It is disturbing!" Pantera shouted.

"Look..." Holiday almost gagged at the word that would calm Pantera down, "...brother... I'm sure that even if we tell them, they'll be ok with it." Pantera looked at him. "But it is not right..." he reasoned. "No, it's not. But in case you haven't noticed, neither is having a demigod grandson. I agree with this couple. Genetically it's safe. If they can live with the fac they're technically cousins, even though Zepher is a clone of his mother, only male and with supernatural powers, than the two should be allowed to date. I don't aven have our father's genes, and Django doesn't have his mother's." Holiday explained, bringing up the undead-reproduction cycle for reference.

"I suppose... But I will only agree with it if we tell them and they still accept eachother." Pantera said. "Well, duh!" Holiday spat.

"Crimson Commissar and Krieg Spinne! I must admit, I wasn't expecting two villians to team up against me." Gato Misteriosa bellowed, "Especially not an S.S. Officer teaming up with a Soviet Commissar... It's unexpected." "I'm not a member of the S.S.!" Krieg yelled. "And I'm here to destroy Krieg!" Commissar shouted. Krieg glared at Commissar. "What? You killed my father!" Commissar spat. "That was twelve years ago! And it was my half-brother!" Krieg explained. "All German rats look alike to me!" "Russians and Germans are closely related!" "Ha! I share no blood with you, rat!"

Misteriosa watched the two bicker back and forth and eventually slammed the two together to shut them up. "I am going to destroy you two! Wait, Krieg, aren't you crippled and missing an arm?" Misteriosa asked. Krieg blushed. "Uh... Well... A spider who's lost three legs can still fight with five!" he shouted, his mechanical limbs ripping through the metallic hands of Misteriosa. Krieg prepared to throw several grenades at the metallic monster when a silvered bolt of black collided into him, sending him reeling backwards. Commissar quickly cut himself out of his prison with his golden sickle, and blew out Misteriosa's legs with his golden hammer. Silver Phoenix swooped downwards and struck Commissar in the back, cracking it.

Commissar stumbled a few feet, then stood up straight. "Hey! My back feels great now!" he let out before he was buried under Misteriosa's mecha. "Ouch..." Commissar let out.

"TRAINING SIMULATION OVER" a computer read. Commissar and Krieg stood up (Krieg needing to use his mechanical limbs), wiping rubble and dust from themselves. "Well... Was 120 mph really necesarry to stop me?" Krieg asked, his ribs aching, "And you only came to our training session to kill me?" he glared at Commissar. "You killed my father!" Commissar spat, taking the light blue NKVD cap from his head and rubbing his eyelids. Krieg growled. "That was my half-brother!" he shouted. "All Germans are the same to me!" Commissar spat. Misteriosa grabbed the two and slammed them together again, shutting them up.

"So, Commissar, isn't Comrade Chaos your father?" Phoenix asked, removing his helmet. "No, he's my great-uncle. Weird coincidence... My father was the original Crimson Commissar, killed by Krieg Spinne's half-brother!" Commissar explained, bitterly. "Oh... Well..." Zachary rubbed the back of his head, awkwardly. Krieg was grateful that Commissar didn't blame Krieg himself for the demise of his father.

Samantha got out of the wrecked mecha, the mecha retreating into her pack. The smashed legs snapped off and only half the mecha returned into her pack. "Oh great! Thanks Commissar! I'm going to have to fix that." Samantha mumbled. "Well, at least you can stay in practice on pack-repair." Krieg said. "Yeah, plus that was a bit of revenge for the beating at the diamond heist awhile ago." Commissar added, sticking his tongue out at Samantha.

The doors to the simulator burst open and in walked Django of the Dead and Manny Rivera, along with their fathers. "Dad!" Samantha gasped, quickly thinking of a cover story. "I was kidnapped by this trio of, of, of villians! Thank goodness you're here to rescue me!" she said, obviously lying no matter how hard she tried. "Save it, Samantha, I know you're a supervillian." Manny said. "Oh... How long have you--" she began. "Nearly three years. I felt there was no way I could stop you if I myself can't even get my alignment straight, plus I didn't want to strain our father-daughter relationship." Manny explained.

"But that is not why we're here. We're here for a family matter." Django added. Zachary looked behind the group. No one else was with them. "Sooooo... If it's a family matter, where's mom, or Aunt Jay, or Uncle Che, or... Anybody?" he asked. "It's between Rodolfo, myself, Django, Manny, Samantha, and you." Holiday explained. Commissar and Krieg stood still for a moment. "Scram!" Holiday yelled, causing the two to bolt for the door.

"I suppose I should tell you this bluntly..." Holiday rubbed the back of his skull, "My father was a man who had courted many women for money. He'd take advantage of them for all their treasure and their technology, anything he could steal. He obviously had odd tastes considering he, um, impregnated an undead." Rodolfo nodded. "My father courted his mother many a time, he did. But shortly after my mother left him, he was back to his usually tricks of courting women." Rodolfo added.

"So, where are you two going with this?" Samantha asked. Holiday sighed. "Puma Loco is my father, making Rodolfo Rivera and I half-brothers, making you two cousins." he said. Samantha and Zachary grew extremely pale. "Hey! We know how you feel! I've tried to kill my cousin a few times, and he accidently threw me in lava more than once." Django said. "Uh..." Rodolfo leaned over and whispered some information into Django's, well, ear. He straightened his back. "Oh... Well... Hmmmm... Hope this doesn't kill the relationship, heheheh..." he shrugged.

"Wait, so mom really did was the first Avez woman to get a Rivera man?" Zachary asked. "Well, yeah, if you think of it that way..." Holiday said. "So... I'm confused... Can we date, are we dating, or should we just forget about it?" Samantha asked. Rodolfo sighed heavily, lowering himself to talk to Samantha fac-to-face. "Samantha, my wonderful granddaughter; while I find you being a supervillian to be a completely terrible thing and I by no means support it," he looked at Manny, "or the parenting that allows it! I still love you. And while I see this relationship a disturbingly atrocious and incestious, loathesome, disgrace! I'd still love you all the same, and I'd even be willing to support your relationship." Rodolfo said, ending with a smile.

Samantha blinked and felt ill. Zachary felt the same. "Well, genetically speaking, you're dating an Avez with mystical powers. He has no trace of Puma Loco's DNA, because in died with Sartana, and stayed dead when it was passed onto myself, and remained dead when it was passed onto Django, and is still dead within Zachary. You know, genetically speaking. Though you'd still be dating your cousin." Holiday said, trying to cheer the two up.

Zachary and Samantha looked at eachother. They still loved eachother, and though genetically the two dating (or if it ever got anywhere further it would be safe), but morally, even for villians, it fell wrong beyond reason. They looked up at their parents. "We'll sleep on it." they said in nonchalant unison. The two hugged and went their seperate ways.

Rodolfo, Manny, Django, and Holiday were left standing there. "So..." Rodolfo began, "Will you be able to make it to the family barbecue, Holiday?" he asked. "GRAAAAHHHH!!!!" Holiday yelled, "Wait, will there be ribs?" he asked. "Of course!" Rodolfo said. Holiday rubbed his chin. "Yeah, ok. I'll go." Holiday agreed.

**NOTES**

**Rodolfo Rivera and White Pantera are the same person in case I lost anybody on that.**

**A little bit of a late note, Son of Sartana is a cyborg-undead cowboy (canon). I gave him the name Holiday to fit in with the western-villian names of his family (Sartana, Django). Francisco was just a for-the-hell-of-it character, cause I felt a loving uncle was necesarry in the underworld.**


	17. YOU Decide!

**If you think Zachary and Samantha should get married, continue to the next chapter!**

**If you think they should go their separate ways, skip to chapter 20!**


	18. So It's a Yes!

Zachary returned home, smelling of alcohol again. He had the irresistable urge to try to drink himself to death (though he knew that with his powers it was impossible) to get over the decision he had made. "Only three months left to go..." his best man, Diego Chipotle Jr. Jr., "Only three weeks until the wedding also! You must be excited, if the alcohol wasn't numbing you." he chuckled. Diego had red hair from his mother, but other than that, he was the spitting image of his father Dr. Diego Chipotle Jr. Sr..

Zachary vomitted. "Jeeze, more nervous than I expected..." Diego said. "Diego! Shut up while I recover! I'm experiencing nausea brought on by the alco-- Oh boy!" he vomitted again. He might be immortal, but that was incredibly painful. "So... Your little cousin Jeremy Chapuza is going to be the ring bearer, aye? Quite the honor." Diego mentioned after Zach was finished. "Si..." Zachary said, weakly. "What kind of ring'd you get her again?" Diego asked.

Zachary smiled, just as Diego knew he would. Diego knew the story of the ring reminded Zachary of his love for Samantha and helped regain his confidence. Zachary stood tall in his dark, eerie tux. "It is as much a scrapbook as well as a wedding and engagement ring. I got the gem from our first heist together, the diamonds. On our first date-heist, I aquired the gold and silver from the Church's cross. Finally, thanks to my great-uncle Francisco, I learned how to create a beautiful ring with all my heart and love forged into it..." Zachary began to daydream, drunk off of nostalgia.

Diego snapped him out of it with his next question. "So she's really your first cousin?" he asked. Zachary returned to vomitting. "Hey, man, relax! It's genetically safe. Your a virtual clone of your mom, only you're a dude, so there's no problem! It's actually kind of funny to see a Suarez and an Aves getting married! Even stranger that a Rivera and an of the Dead are getting married..." Diego was laughing wildly. Zachary glared at him. "Take my tux to get dry cleaned... I think this one's dirty." Zachary ordered, noticing he was now soaked in his own vomit. He couldn't help it, but the disturbing situation made him vomit once more...

Samantha was so nervous, she was sweating. Not much, but she had never broken a sweat before. Her on-again, off-again friend, Carla Jr. (daughter of Carlito and named after her deceased aunt), was going through her chosen dresses, trying to find one that screamed 'Samantha!'. Carla had long, dark brown hair, the back end done into a ponytail, her bangs occasionally running over her face. She had a habit of being nonchalant and chewing gum. "So, this guy's your cousin? That's sick, girl." Carla said, smirking as she chewed. "I didn't know he was my cousin until after we kissed! Besides, he's like a clone of his mother, who I'm not related to." Samantha defended herself. "Whatever, it's cool with me. Other people will talk though. Anyone out of the family (besides myself) know you're a supervillian, or that your man's the Silver Phoenix?" Carla asked. "No." Samantha responded.

"And my little sister's the flower girl? How cute!" Carla managed it with little sarcasm. Samantha smiled. Carla was good company to have. She was one of the few people outside of the family who knew that Zachary was her cousin, and was very grateful for her secrecy. She was a supervillian, to which her father was only worried about her safety. Since her father retired and her aunt was dead, there was no more 'Golden Eagle Twins', so Carla merely called herself the Golden Eagle. She mostly hung out with Samantha because she was dating the child of two people Carlito hated, just to piss off her overprotective dad. She was also dating Zachary's best man, Diego Chipotle Jr. Jr., which the fiances found to be rather funny.

Finally, Carla found it. The perfect dress. She pulled out a beautiful white dress, not too flashy but not to plain. As requested by the two, they wore black for the wedding (white was more a color for funerals, and black was cooler anyway). A nervous Samantha looked at the dress and relaxed. Carla had made the wedding much less stressful and had great taste in clothing. She always knew who would look good in what, or how to make something someone wanted to wear look good on them. "It's perfect." Samantha said after trying it on.

"So, how'd your parents react to the marriage anyway?" Carla asked. Samantha blinked. It was a rather funny event, really...

FOUR WEEKS EARLIER

"Hello Frida..." Zoey said, doing her best to keep the venom from their old fued from seeping into her words. She failed, and there was that cold tinge in her Argentine accent. "Hello Aves..." Frida responded with equal failed control of her spite. They stood, glaring at eachother for awhile, Voltura standing behind Zoe with Crimson Guacho and Django, and Officer Suarez, Judge Suarez, and Manny standing behind Frida. "So, let's echange the fiances and get to know our future in-laws..." Voltura said, a with a slight twitch at the idea she'd soon be a great-grandmother.

Zachary, dressed in a black button-up shirt, black pants, black combat boots, with a silver-studded belt walked towards the Riveras and kissed Samantha (wearing a Mexican dress in blazing red and yellow colours) as they passed, her heading to the of the Deads. "So... You're the offspring of... THAT." Zoe spat out, making sure Frida did not hear. "...THAT." Frida said, making sure Zoe did not hear. Zachary and Samantha gulped, realizing the evening was not going to be easy.

Samantha had taken Zachary's advice and took several anti-poison tablets that he had given her before they left. It was a good thing too, as she almost passed out even with the tablets. Django glared at Zoe. "Don't kill her!" he whisper-yelled. "I'm not! She's carrying my grandchild!" Zoey whisper-hollered back. They both looked at Voltura and Crimson Gaucho. Voltura glared at Crimson Gaucho, as he cooked the meal. "I didn't mean to poison her... It's probably a bad time to mention I can't cook..." he chuckled softly, scratching the back of his head. Everyone rolled their eyes except for Samantha who was almost in a daze from the high dose of anti-poison tablets and the food poisoning that was died down by the heavy amount of pills.

Things were not easy for Zachary either, as he was uncomfortable with the disturbingly high amount of kindness from the Riveras, and the cold judgement of the Suarezes. "So, you-" "Are dating-" "Your cousin, our neice?" Frida's sisters asked. Zachary blushed and returned to eating the enchilada they made for him. It was good and he wish he could have more time to savour it.

Finally, they were finished with their interrogations of the fiances and each one barely passed the expectations of the other's parents. "Your daughter has better fashion sense, Suarez." Zoe said. "That's Rivera now, Avez. And your son doesn't talk quite as much." Frida responded. Zoe growled and took her son home. Samantha immediately went to bed to sleep off the tablets.

"Hmmm... But how'd they react to the child?" Carla aked. Samantha scratched the back of her head. "Oh, they... freaked out..." she mumbled. "Rightfully so." Carla smirked. "Shut up and do my hair!" Samantha joked, laughing. Carla chuckled as well and crossed the room to Samantha to help with her hair.

Manny, Frida, Zoe, Django, Holiday, and Rodolfo were all sitting at the local Miracle City Saloon, each on their third round of taquilla. "So... Our children our marrying eachother..." Frida said. Never in a million years, even after their fued had ended, could Frida see any of her descendants marrying any of the Avez line. Zoe felt likewise. They all finished another shot, simultaneously, slamming the glasses onto the table and giving a satisfied, group "Ahhhhhhh!" They visited the saloon frequently, as they were all still troubled by the disturbing relationship.

"It seems so wrong, but they do make an awesome couple..." Frida commented, ordering another round. "Yeah..." Zoe said, "We shouldn't fret though? I mean, what's the worst case scenario? Them being related is a total turn-on to them and they start inbreeding, forever disgracing both our family names? Hahahahahahaha! Who'd care if that happened?" Zoe almost shouted, but then ordered two more shots which she downed quickly. The guys at the table sighed, everyone of their thoughts already voiced by their women.

Finally, Manny stood up. "No! We shall not have this happen!" he said. "Are you saying we should be against the wedding?" Django asked, shocked. "Hell no! I've never seen my daughter so happy!" "Manny! Watch your language!" "Yes papi..." "Dude, you're still not allowed to cuss in front of your dad? Weak!" "Shut up, Django! Anyway, as I was saying;" Manny continued, ignoring the recent interruptions, "we need to tell our children that this is a one-time thing, and that incest is wrong! We need to explain to them the dangers of it as well! We approve of this only because Zachary is a virtual clone of Zoe." Zoe and Django never really got use to the idea that Zachary was 'just a clone'. The term seemed offensive, it was never meant that way.

The four ran off, leaving Holiday and Rodolfo with the rather large bill. Rodolfo looked at Holiday who simply said "I'm a villian, so I don't care if my drinks are payed for or not." and walked out. Rodolfo sighed as he pulled out a hundred dollar bill and put it on the counter. The bartender took it and as Rodolfo was leaving, said "What, no tip?" Rodlfo turned around and gave him three dollars. "Thank you! Come again, Sir!" the bartender said cheerfully to the drunk Rodolfo. People in the bar were a little shocked at the fact the bartender let a bunch of drunk friends and relatives leave in a group with no designated driver, but then again, this was Miracle City; where it's a miracle you don't die...


	19. A Happy Ending After All!

**Whoa! Sorry it took so long! Anyway, here's the ending! It's not grand, or glorious, or amazingly awesome like you all deserve, but I could not find a way to properly end the story, so I hope you will enjoy it and forgive me if you don't.**

**Read on!**

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Samantha demanded from her parents while Zachary was being ill in the bushes nearby. "We just want you to understand the harm that could come from it, is all..." Manny reasoned, Frida nodding. "What do you think we'll be doing?" Samantha demanded. "Well… You know…" Frida mumbled. Zachary came up to his parents. "You all have some pretty sick minds if you think about that!" He spat.

"We love each other! Hell, we've had a crush on each other since 7th grade!" Zachary said. "Our love isn't blinded by the fact we're cousins, nor does that fact fuel some sick fantasy of incest... Blech!" Samantha explained. "We don't even care that we're cousins! Hell, you guys have always said I was a clone of my mother, anyway." Zachary finished, crossing his arms.

What can I say? They were right and their parents felt guilty. Not only for judging their children as perverts, but for constantly referring to Zachary as 'a clone'. It seemed so wrong, so heartless, and so cold.

Without thinking, Zoë stepped near her son and hugged him, startling him. "What are you-" he began, "I'm so sorry, Zachary!" Was all she said as she hugged him tighter. Zachary was glad his mother had seen what had been bugging him so much for half of his life and he enjoyed the hug even more when his father, now seeing this dilemma, joined into the hug. Manny and Frida stood aside, not exactly knowing what to do. "Well?" Samantha asked, surprised at them, "Aren't you going to apologize too?" "For what?" Manny asked. "Oh my God, Dad, I swear if you were anymore dense you'd be crushed under the weight of your own skull!" Samantha mumbled to herself. "Zachary hates it when you call him a clone! It's offensive!" She whispered to her parents, low enough not to disturb the group hug. "Oh!" Her parents said in unison, Samantha slapping herself in the head.

"Zachary..." Manny started in an awkward tone, as the family hug broke up. "Yeah?" He asked. "Um, well, it's just that we can be a little... Uh... Judgmental? No... Precise? Closer, um..." he stammered along, Zach's eyelids growing heavy. "What he's trying to say is we're sorry for referring to you as a clone all of these years." Frida explained. Zachary was surprised. He thought they were too dense to see his pain, but he felt Samantha helped some. He smiled, something he only did when Samantha was near him, or talking to him, or when he thought of her, or the few good family times he had (growing up in hell isn't very pleasant, mind you).

He hugged them. "Forgiven." He said simply. Frida and Manny smiled and hugged him back. They were truly ok with the marriage, as Samantha and Zachary seemed the perfect match, a match made in hell really. Zachary and Samantha hugged, and then leaned in for a kiss...

...Their lips parted and Samantha threw the dead flowers into the air. Her cousin, Jay Jr., caught them with her pale, almost unnoticeably blue-tinged skin. She was wearing a beautiful red dress with yellow swirls on the frills at the bottom, and Zachary was wearing a tattered militant-styled black tuxedo his dad wore for his wedding. He looked out and saw his cousins, Dragonfly, Zoot, and Krieg hi-five each other on their suit which was standing the test of time, and to his parents and grandparents who were proud (though Sartana was still brooding her losing the bet with Django), and to his bride, Samantha. She was wearing a red and gold dress, an ashy rose in her hair, just as Django had taught Zachary to make.

She had strolled down the aisle, her hair in a bun atop her head with a few loose strands, Manny standing next to her to walk her down the aisle. Everyone at the ceremony afterwards lifted their glasses up high, afterwhich Zachary activated his jetpack and looped his arm around Samantha's waist. They soared off into the night sky, happy for years to come…

And that's the story of how an albino gothic, villainess, and an undead, cowboy villain, lived happily ever after, and how their children followed as well.

THE END.


	20. So it's a no

Zachary and Samantha, 16 years after their life-changing decision, sat in a small diner in Miracle City, almost unable to look at each other. They had shared a deep love like no other, an inner connection which once broken, ruined any chance of another relationship with anyone but the one who they had been connected too.

Zachary, just as always in his family, was alone and bitter, stuck with a little girl that he named after his mother, Zoe Carmelita Sartana Aves-of the Dead. He wasn't stuck with her, or at least he'd never say that. She was his pride and joy, even if her mother had left them, not that Zachary cared much for the mother.

Samantha had managed to get over the break-up, though it was a long and agonizing recovery that only lasted due to a man that loved her more than life itself. She gave up crime to raise her son, Manuel Rodolfo Emiliano Suarez-Rivera, after this man died.

Now, their children were on opposite sides of the law, the villain Crimson Raven (in honour of her grandmother and great grandfather), and the hero, the Silver Lion. However, much to Zachary's dismay, his daughter has a crush the Silver Lion.

Now Samantha and Zachary were face to face again after nearly 17 years of avoidance. What they wanted was closure. "Well," Samantha said, "history continues to repeat itself." Zachary nodded. "We were different though." Zachary said, "Just imagine what could've been." "Zach. We can't daydream about that." Samantha said, "We need to continue our lives. We need to be free from the chains we forged." Zachary, through the wave of depression that hit him with her words, nodded agreement.

With that, Zachary departed, to live as his grandmother and great-grandmother had lived, only to find a woman in his later years. As for Samantha, she continued to be happy until Manuel moved out, and then she realized how lonely she was. She too eventually found another man in her later years, and both Zachary and Samantha lived happily away from each other. Their children, and their children's children, and their children, would continue the feud and love interest until finally, the third Black Cuervo and the third El Tigre were married, ending the curse once and for all.

THE END.


End file.
